SLU-PP-332 and 5-Amino-1MQ: Two 'Peptides' That Are Not Peptides, and What the Mouse Data Actually Show

What is SLU-PP-332 and is it bad for your heart?

The compound came out of Thomas Burris's lab at Saint Louis University and was described in a 2023 paper as a drug that switches on all three ERRs. Despite their name (estrogen-related receptors), ERRs don't respond to estrogen. They are master controls for building mitochondria, the power plants of cells, and for burning fuel in muscle. Switching them on with a drug is a believable way to copy exercise, which is exactly how the American Chemical Society's press release pitched it: 'Mimicking exercise with a pill'. Our profile is at SLU-PP-332.

What the SLU-PP-332 mouse studies showed

• In the 2023 and 2024 papers (Billon and colleagues), 28 days of dosing raised the share of muscle fibers that resist tiring, increased running stamina and cut fat, both in mice on a normal diet and in mice with obesity (PMC10801787).
• The mice burned more energy without eating any less, which is the pattern people hope for.
• The doses were 50 mg/kg twice a day by injection, far above what capsule sellers suggest. The mice were dosed for four weeks, not months.

What are the results of SLU-PP-332 for fat loss?

What does 5-amino-1MQ do?

NNMT (short for nicotinamide N-methyltransferase) uses up nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, and SAM, a chemical the body uses to tag other molecules. In fat tissue, NNMT is higher in obesity and when the body responds poorly to insulin. Blocking it makes fat cells burn more and store less. A University of Texas group led by Stanton McHardy and Harshini Neelakantan built 5-amino-1MQ to get into cells and block NNMT. In 2018 they reported that mice made obese by a fatty diet, dosed three times a day, lost weight and fat. In a dish, fat cells made half to two thirds less fat (PMC5826726). A 2022 study paired it with a lower-calorie diet in mice (PMC8748953). Profile: 5-amino-1MQ.

Is 5-amino-1MQ FDA approved?

Two claims come up again and again. 'It shrinks fat cells': in a dish and in mice, fat cells hold less fat. Nobody has measured fat cells in a person taking it. 'It boosts NAD+': blocking NNMT saves nicotinamide, so NAD+ might go up. That is a guess. Supplements that feed NAD+ directly have far more data from people (see NMN vs NR vs NAD+).

Why both get called peptides

Because peptide sellers sell them, in the same vials and capsules, to the same buyers. That is why 'SLU-PP-332 peptide' and '5-amino-1MQ peptide' are common searches. A peptide is a chain of protein building blocks (amino acids). SLU-PP-332 is a different kind of small molecule (a phenol-hydrazone), and 5-amino-1MQ is a salt (a quinolinium salt). The difference matters. Small molecules survive the gut and most peptides don't, so it changes how they are taken. It also matters for drug tests, and for how you read the evidence.

Where they sit against the alternatives

One thing this table is not saying. For several compounds elsewhere on this site, the missing study is about money: nobody pays to test a molecule they can't patent. That is not the case here. SLU-PP-332 and 5-amino-1MQ are new small molecules from university labs, they can be patented and they have business partners. So the lack of data from people means they are early, not that the money will never come. The AICAR row is the useful counterweight. It had the same kind of rodent results and the same 'exercise in a pill' idea, and it did get a 3,080-person study. It failed. That is what it looks like when someone actually pays for the answer, and it is why a mouse result is a guess, not a finding.