The NAD-brain pharmacokinetic study of NAD augmentation in blood and brain using oral precursor supplementation

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) augmentation therapy (NAD-AT) is increasingly explored in clinical trials across multiple indications, especially neurological diseases, yet its human pharmacokinetic profile remains incompletely defined. We report findings from a phase I pharmacokinetic trial assessing systemic and cerebral responses to oral NAD precursors in healthy individuals (n = 6) and persons with Parkinson's disease (n = 6) receiving 1,200 mg/day nicotinamide riboside or nicotinamide mononucleotide. Blood NAD increased slowly, plateauing after approximately two weeks of treatment, and declined with similarly slow kinetics following treatment discontinuation. Cerebral NAD levels increased measurably after four weeks of treatment. NAD-related metabolites showed faster increase and washout dynamics compared to NAD itself. Collectively, these data suggest that effective NAD-AT requires sustained oral administration over at least 2-4 weeks and that once-daily dosing is sufficient to maintain stable NAD levels. NAD responses exhibited considerable interindividual variability, but were not influenced by disease status or sex, indicating broad applicability.