The NAD⁺ precursor nicotinamide riboside decreases exercise performance in rats

Abstract

BackgroundNicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) and its phosphorylated form (NADP+) are key molecules in ubiquitous bioenergetic and cellular signaling pathways, regulating cellular metabolism and homeostasis. Thus, supplementation with NAD+ and NADP+ precursors emerged as a promising strategy to gain many and multifaceted health benefits. In this proof-of-concept study, we sought to investigate whether chronic nicotinamide riboside administration (an NAD+ precursor) affects exercise performance.MethodsEighteen Wistar rats were equally divided in two groups that received either saline vehicle or nicotinamide riboside at a dose of 300 mg/kg body weight/day for 21 days via gavage. At the end of the 21-day administration protocol, both groups performed an incremental swimming performance test.ResultsThe nicotinamide riboside group showed a tendency towards worse physical performance by 35 % compared to the control group at the final 10 % load (94 ± 53 s for the nicotinamide riboside group and 145 ± 59 s for the control group; P = 0.071).ConclusionOur results do not confirm the previously reported ergogenic effect of nicotinamide riboside. The potentially negative effect of nicotinamide riboside administration on physical performance may be attributed to the pleiotropic metabolic and redox properties of NAD+ and NADP+.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12970-016-0143-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Nicotinamide riboside supplementation dysregulates redox and energy metabolism in rats: Implications for exercise performance

“…peroxiredoxins and reduced glutathione) and oxidant sources (NADPH oxidases and NO • synthases), it seems that NR supplementation favoured the ‘pro‐oxidant’ properties of NADPH, as demonstrated by the increased levels of oxidative stress and the decreased antioxidant enzyme activity. These findings could possibly clarify, at least in part, the impaired exercise performance found in the same animals and presented in our previous report (Kourtzidis et al., ). Certainly, other mechanisms that were not evaluated in the present study (e.g.…”

“…In contrast to all previous studies that recruited unhealthy or aged animals, we have recently shown that in healthy young rats, chronic administration of NR resulted in a marginally non‐significant reduction in exercise performance by 35% ( P = 0.071; Kourtzidis et al., ). As a follow‐up to this finding, and in the context of the present study, we tried to reveal potential mechanisms driving this adverse effect.…”

“…We would like to clarify the fact that the times reported by Kourtzidis et al. () (94–145 s) are the times to exhaustion when starting to count after the 12th minute. This means that the duration of the exercise performance test was 12 min plus 94–145 s. Taking into account the duration of the first three phases (4 min each; 12 min in total) and the loads used (2, 3.5 and 5% of body weight), the type of exercise was mainly aerobic.…”

Nicotinamide riboside has protective effects in a rat model of mesenteric ischaemia‐reperfusion

“…(b) Experimental group (nicotinamide riboside): application of vessel cannulation, intestinal preparation and 60 minutes of intestinal ischaemia, followed by 30 minutes of reperfusion with intravenous NR infusion at 50 mg/kg body weight for 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after the beginning of reperfusion. Doses were selected based on data reported in the literature . (c) Control group : the same procedure sequence as in the previous group, with NR solution replaced with an equivalent volume of 0.9% sodium chloride according to the same scheme.…”

“…Doses were selected based on data reported in the literature. 6,7 (c) Control group: the same procedure sequence as in the previous group, with NR solution replaced with an equivalent volume of 0.9% sodium chloride according to the same scheme.…”