AICAR for Sale | 99% Pure AMPK Activator (Acadesine) for Advanced Metabolic Research

In 2008, one compound made sedentary mice run 44% farther — no treadmill, no training, no sweat. That study, published in Cell, earned AICAR its nickname: “exercise in a pill.” Researchers have been chasing that mechanism ever since.

If you run AMPK assays, study energy metabolism, or model mitochondrial function, you already know why this molecule sits on so many bench-side shelves. AICAR is the original, direct-acting AMPK activator — the reference tool that early metabolic science was practically built on. And the version you put in your protocol matters. Purity, identity, and documentation separate a clean dataset from a wasted month.

At GLP1 Peptides, we supply the scientific community with AICAR verified to 99%+ purity, backed by a batch-specific Certificate of Analysis (COA), and shipped to laboratories across the USA, Canada, Germany, and France. Below is everything a serious buyer needs before adding it to a study.

Research Use Only. AICAR (Acadesine) is supplied strictly for in-vitro laboratory and analytical research by qualified professionals. It is not a drug, supplement, food, or cosmetic, has not been evaluated by the FDA, and is not intended for human or veterinary use.

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What Is AICAR?

AICAR stands for 5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide — also sold under its pharmaceutical name, Acadesine. Here’s a detail that trips up a lot of first-time buyers: despite the label “AICAR peptide” you’ll see everywhere, it is not a peptide. It’s a small-molecule nucleoside analog structurally related to adenosine. The “peptide” tag stuck simply because it lives in the same research communities as the classic peptides.

How AICAR activates AMPK

Once AICAR enters a cell, adenosine kinase phosphorylates it into a metabolite called ZMP. ZMP mimics AMP, binds the γ-regulatory subunit of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and switches the enzyme on — without the cell ever needing real energy stress. That’s the whole appeal. AMPK is the master switch cells normally flip only when energy runs low, and AICAR lets researchers pull that lever on demand.

A compound with real scientific pedigree

This isn’t an obscure novelty. AICA riboside was first proposed as a cellular AMPK activator back in 1995, and it became the default starting point for a generation of AMPK studies (Višnjić et al., Cells, 2021). As Acadesine, it was pushed through late-stage human trials for cardiac protection during bypass surgery and for chronic lymphocytic leukemia — though neither program reached FDA approval. That mix of deep mechanistic data and a famous headline is exactly why it stays in demand.

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Why Researchers Buy AICAR

As an AMPK agonist, AICAR gives investigators a way to probe energy metabolism without physical exertion or complex knockout models. Here’s where it earns its place in the lab:

One thing worth knowing up front: not every effect attributed to AICAR runs through AMPK. A 2021 systematic review flagged a growing list of AMPK-independent actions, which is a genuinely useful caution when you’re designing controls. Good science, not just good marketing — and it’s why documented identity matters so much here.

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The Science Behind AICAR: What the Data Actually Shows

You asked for numbers, so here are real ones — pulled from peer-reviewed literature, not sales copy.

A quick reality check I’d want if I were buying: those endurance and tumor figures come from animal and cell models. Human performance data doesn’t exist, and AICAR is prohibited by WADA in competitive sport precisely because regulators take its mechanism seriously. Any vendor selling it as a proven fat-loss or endurance product is telling you they don’t read their own citations. We won’t do that.

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The GLP1 Peptides Quality Standard

Buying a research chemical is really buying documentation. Here’s what backs every vial:

On a thin, easily-repackaged market, that COA isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s the single factor that separates a real supplier from someone decanting mystery powder (The Peptide Catalog buying guide, 2026).

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Technical Product Specifications

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How to Reconstitute and Store AICAR (Laboratory Handling)

Handled well, your AICAR stays potent for a long time. Handled carelessly, you’ll watch a good compound degrade before you get clean data. These are standard in-vitro handling steps for qualified researchers — not use directions.

Reconstitution, step by step

Storage at a glance

• Lyophilized powder: store at -20°C, sealed, away from heat, light, and moisture. Stable long-term.
• Reconstituted solution: refrigerate at 2–8°C, protect from light, and use within roughly 4 weeks. Do not freeze the mixed solution
• Inspect before every use: discard any solution that turns cloudy or discolored.

Simple rule of thumb? Cold, dark, dry, and aliquoted. Your future self — and your reproducibility — will thank you.

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AICAR vs Other Metabolic Research Compounds

Buyers rarely shop AICAR in isolation. Here’s how it stacks up against the compounds it’s most often compared with, so you can match the tool to your assay.

The short version: if your question is specifically “what happens when I switch AMPK on directly?”, AICAR is the cleanest answer on this list. Metformin gets there the long way around; the others aren’t AMPK tools at all

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AICAR for Sale — Availability and International Shipping

Ready to add it to your study? Our research-grade AICAR is stocked in 50 mg vials, HPLC/MS verified, and COA-backed. We serve laboratories and independent researchers across the markets where demand is highest:

• 🇺🇸 USA — fast domestic dispatch
• 🇨🇦 Canada — reliable cross-border delivery
• 🇩🇪 Germany (Deutschland) — trusted EU logistics
• 🇫🇷 France — secure European shipping

Every order arrives sealed, documented, and ready for the bench. When you buy AICAR from GLP1 Peptides, you’re paying for verified identity and full data integrity — the two things that actually protect your results.

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FAQs about AICAR

1. What is AICAR and what does it do? AICAR is 5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide, a cell-permeable AMP analog. In research models it’s converted to ZMP inside cells, which directly activates AMPK — the enzyme that governs cellular energy balance, glucose uptake, and fat oxidation

2. Is AICAR a peptide? No. It’s a nucleoside analog related to adenosine, built by chemical synthesis rather than amino-acid assembly. The “AICAR peptide” search term is just a popular misclassification

3. Is AICAR the same as Acadesine? Yes — Acadesine is the pharmaceutical name for the same molecule (experimental code AICA-riboside). Same compound, different label.

4. Is AICAR FDA approved? No. It was trialed in humans for cardioprotection during bypass surgery and for leukemia, but neither reached approval. It’s supplied for laboratory research only.

5. Is AICAR legal to buy? It’s sold on the research-chemical market for in-vitro research use. It is not approved for human use and is prohibited by WADA in competitive sport. Always buy from a documented, COA-backed source and follow local regulations.

6. What’s the difference between AICAR and metformin? Both raise AMPK activity, but it does it directly (its ZMP metabolite binds AMPK like AMP would), while metformin works indirectly, partly through mitochondrial complex I inhibition

7. How should AICAR be stored? Lyophilized powder keeps best at -20°C, sealed and away from light and moisture. Once reconstituted, refrigerate at 2–8°C, protect from light, and use within about four weeks — don’t freeze the solution.

8. How do you reconstitute AICAR in the lab? Bring the vial to room temperature, add sterile or bacteriostatic water (or PBS) slowly down the vial wall, swirl gently until dissolved, then aliquot to avoid freeze-thaw damage. See the how-to table above.

9. What purity should AICAR be, and how do I verify it? Aim for 98–99%+ confirmed by HPLC, with a real chromatogram, correct molecular weight (~258.23 Da), and unambiguous identity on a lot-specific COA. Ours is verified by HPLC and Mass Spectrometry

10. Why is AICAR called an “exercise mimetic”? Because a 2008 Cell study found it raised endurance in sedentary mice by ~44% through the AMPK–PPARδ pathway — mimicking a training adaptation without the training. Human performance effects remain unproven.

11. What is ZMP? ZMP is the phosphorylated metabolite AICAR becomes inside cells. It imitates AMP, binds AMPK’s regulatory subunit, and triggers activation

12. Where can I buy AICAR that ships internationally? GLP1 Peptides ships research-grade, COA-verified AICAR to the USA, Canada, Germany, and France, in sealed 50 mg vials. Availability details are in the section above.

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Verified. Documented. Research-ready. Every vial of it from GLP1 Peptides is HPLC/MS-tested to 99%+ purity and shipped with a batch-specific COA — because your data is only as trustworthy as the compound behind it.