Nicotinamide Riboside Reduces Brain Inflammation and Cellular Aging in Alzheimer’s Disease: Preclinical Findings

Synopsis

In Alzheimer’s disease, brain cells often show low NAD+ levels, high inflammation, and impaired cellular cleanup of damaged components. In mice with Alzheimer’s-like brain changes, five months of nicotinamide riboside (NR) supplementation restored NAD+ levels, reduced inflammatory molecules, calmed overactive brain immune cells (microglia and astrocytes), and lowered DNA damage and cellular aging signals. NR also boosted mitophagy—the recycling of damaged mitochondria—and improved learning, memory, and synaptic activity. A key finding was that NR suppressed the cGAS–STING pathway, a DNA damage–triggered process that fuels inflammation and accelerates cell aging. The results suggest that NAD+ depletion may directly contribute to brain inflammation and decline in Alzheimer’s, and that NR could help protect brain function by restoring NAD+ and reducing inflammation at the molecular level.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences