GW501516 raises a handful of sensible questions. This page answers them in order, starting with the fundamentals and moving to applications.
This page was last updated on 2025-11-25 and is reviewed periodically as new material appears.
Anti-doping laboratories identify GW501516 and related metabolites using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Urine is the most common matrix, though blood and dried blood spots may also be analyzed. The method targets the parent compound and phase I and phase II metabolites, which extend the detection window. Because the substance is prohibited at all times, athletes can be tested outside competition. Detection limits and windows depend on the assay, sample type, and individual metabolism.
Cardarine is frequently described as a fat-burning or endurance-enhancing supplement, but these claims exceed the available evidence. The compound is not a hormone, steroid, or selective androgen receptor modulator. Research articles discuss it as a tool compound for studying PPARδ biology, while anti-doping literature focuses on its abuse and detection. Quality of unapproved products is uncertain, and independent analyses have found impurities or incorrect labeling. Open questions include whether human cancer risk resembles that seen in rodents and how often non-athletes use the substance.
Published studies have examined GW501516 in animal models of obesity, insulin resistance, and exercise endurance. Early human trials reportedly ended, and development was discontinued after preclinical findings raised concerns about cancer in some rodent studies. Regulatory agencies have not approved cardarine for any medical use. Its availability through non-pharmaceutical channels raises questions about identity, purity, and legal status that are separate from its laboratory pharmacology. Those questions are often addressed through analytical testing rather than assumptions about product labels.
Cardarine is a common name for GW501516, also GW-1516, a synthetic compound developed as a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (PPARδ) agonist. It belongs to a class of agents that modulate gene transcription related to lipid and energy metabolism. The compound was studied in preclinical and early clinical research for metabolic and cardiovascular conditions, but it did not progress to approved therapeutic use. Its name appears in fitness and sports contexts despite not being approved as a drug.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory status | Prohibited in sport; not approved as medicine | Listed by WADA at all times. |
| Common synonyms | GW501516, GW-501516, endurobol | Cardarine is a colloquial name. |
| Typical analytical method | LC-MS/MS | Detects parent compound and metabolites. |
| Common test matrix | Urine | Blood and dried blood spots also possible. |
| Legal classification | Varies by country | Often treated as unapproved drug or research chemical. |
Anti-doping laboratories detect GW501516 and its metabolites using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Urine is the most common matrix, though blood and dried blood spots may also be used in some programs. Detection depends on factors such as dose, timing, metabolism, and the sensitivity of the assay. Published methods describe limits of detection in the low nanogram per milliliter range for related compounds. Exact detection windows are not fixed for all situations and remain an area of ongoing study.
Products sold as cardarine have been found to contain incorrect compounds, variable amounts, or no active ingredient at all. Independent testing is required to verify identity and purity. Common analytical approaches include high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance for structural confirmation. These methods can distinguish GW501516 from related PPAR agonists and from unrelated steroids. For regulators and researchers, such verification is central to interpreting both biological results and adverse event reports.
Cardarine is a common name for the investigational chemical GW501516, also written GW-1516. It was developed as a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta agonist for metabolic conditions such as dyslipidemia. Early research focused on lipid handling and energy use in skeletal muscle and other tissues. The compound was never approved as a medicine. In public discussion, it is often grouped with performance-enhancing substances, although its receptor target differs from that of anabolic steroids or selective androgen receptor modulators. Regulatory and health authorities have issued warnings about its use.
GW501516 acts on PPARδ, a nuclear receptor that helps regulate fatty acid oxidation and energy homeostasis. In animal studies, activation of this receptor was associated with increased endurance and changes in lipid metabolism. Human trials examined effects on blood lipids and other metabolic markers, but the compound did not advance to approval. Rodent studies later reported tumors in multiple tissues at doses used in those experiments. Whether those findings translate to human risk remains uncertain, and the clinical relevance of the animal data is still debated.
Cardarine is a synthetic compound also known as GW501516, GW-501516, and sometimes endurobol. It was developed as a selective agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta, a nuclear receptor involved in fatty acid oxidation and energy metabolism. The compound was studied in preclinical models for metabolic and cardiovascular conditions, but it did not become a marketed human medicine. In regulatory and anti-doping contexts, it is treated as a prohibited substance rather than a licensed medicine.
The pharmacological interest in cardarine centers on PPARδ activation and its downstream effects on lipid handling and mitochondrial function. In animal studies, PPARδ agonists have been associated with changes in exercise endurance and fatty acid utilization, though results vary by model and protocol. Human data remain sparse, and the absence of large controlled trials limits conclusions about efficacy. Researchers often describe the compound as a tool for probing PPARδ biology rather than a proven therapeutic agent.
Safety discussions about cardarine frequently cite rodent carcinogenicity findings reported in the 2000s. In those studies, treated animals developed tumors at multiple sites, leading sponsors to discontinue clinical development. The relevance of these findings to humans has not been resolved, but they are a major reason the compound is not approved. Current literature emphasizes uncertainty about long-term effects and the risks of unregulated use. Regulators and health agencies have not established a safe human exposure level.
On 13 September 1945, a Franco-British task force landed in Java, main island of the Dutch East Indies (for which independence was being sought by Sukarno), and Saigon, capital of Cochinchina (southern part of French Indochina), both being occupied by the Japanese under Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Southern Expeditionary Army Group based in Saigon. Allied troops in Saigon were an airborne detachment, two British companies of the Indian 20th Infantry Division and the French 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment, with British General Sir Douglas Gracey as supreme commander. The latter proclaimed martial law on September 21, and Franco-British troops took control of Saigon.
== Dietary issues == Leaf protein is a good source of amino acids, with methionine being a limiting factor. It is nutritionally better than seed proteins and comparable to animal proteins (other than those in egg and milk). In terms of digestibility, whole LPC has digestibility in the range 65–90%. The green fraction has a much lower digestibility that may be <50%, while the white fraction has digestibility >90%. The challenges that have to be overcome using lucerne and cassava, two high density monoculture crops, include the high fiber content and other antinutritional factors, such as phytate, cyanide, and tannins. Lablab beans, Moringa oleifera, tree collards and bush clover may also be used. Flavors of different species vary greatly. For testing new leaf species for use as LPCs a non-targeted approach has been developed that uses an ultra-high-resolution hybrid ion trap orbitrap mass spectrometer with electrospray ionization coupled to an ultra-high pressure two-dimensional liquid chromatograph system. An open source software toolchain was also developed for automated non‐targeted screening of toxic compounds for LPCs. The process uses three tools: 1) mass spectrometry analysis with MZmine 2, 2) formula assignment with MFAssignR, and 3) data filtering with ToxAssign. Studies have looked at the potential for deciduous trees and coniferous tree leaves.
== Water adsorption == The adsorption of water at surfaces is of broad importance in chemical engineering, materials science, and catalysis. Also termed surface hydration, the presence of physically or chemically adsorbed water at the surfaces of solids plays an important role in governing interface properties, chemical reaction pathways, and catalytic performance in a wide range of systems. In the case of physically adsorbed water, surface hydration can be eliminated simply through drying at conditions of temperature and pressure allowing full vaporization of water. For chemically adsorbed water, hydration may be in the form of either dissociative adsorption, where H2O molecules are dissociated into surface adsorbed -H and -OH, or molecular adsorption (associative adsorption) where individual water molecules remain intact
=== Early study === The history of oligopeptidases originates in the late 1960s, when the rabbit brain was searched for enzymes that cause inactivation of the nonapeptide bradykinin. In the early and mid 1970s two thiol-activated endopeptidases, responsible for more than 90% of bradykinin inactivation, were isolated from cytosol of rabbit brain, and characterized. They correspond to EOPA (endooligopeptidase A, EC 3.4.22.19), and Prolyl endopeptidase or Prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) (EC 3.4.21.26). Since their activities are restricted to oligopeptides (usually from 8-13 amino acid residues), and do not hydrolyze proteins or large peptides (>30 amino acid residues), they were designated oligopeptidases. In the early and mid 1980s other oligopeptidases, mostly metallopeptidases, were described in the cytosol of mammalian tissues, such as the TOP (thimet oligopeptidase, EC 3.4.24.15), and the neurolysin (EC 3.4.24.16). Earlier on, the ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme, EC 3.4.15.1), and the NEP (neprilysin, EC 3.4.24.11), had been described, at the end of the 1960s, and in 1973, respectively.
Oxygen (1s2 2s2 2p4), fluorine (1s2 2s2 2p5), and neon (1s2 2s2 2p6) then complete the already singly filled 2p orbitals; the last of these fills the second shell completely. Starting from element 11, sodium, the second shell is full, making the second shell a core shell for this and all heavier elements. The eleventh electron begins the filling of the third shell by occupying a 3s orbital, giving a configuration of 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s1 for sodium. This configuration is abbreviated [Ne] 3s1, where [Ne] represents neon's configuration. Magnesium ([Ne] 3s2) finishes this 3s orbital, and the following six elements aluminium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, and argon fill the three 3p orbitals ([Ne] 3s2 3p1 through [Ne] 3s2 3p6). This creates an analogous series in which the outer shell structures of sodium through argon are analogous to those of lithium through neon, and is the basis for the periodicity of chemical properties that the periodic table illustrates: at regular but changing intervals of atomic numbers, the properties of the chemical elements approximately repeat. The first 18 elements can thus be arranged as the start of a periodic table. Elements in the same column have the same number of valence electrons and have analogous valence electron configurations: these columns are called groups. The single exception is helium, which has two valence electrons like beryllium and magnesium, but is typically placed in the column of neon and argon to emphasise that its outer shell is full.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Other toxicants === Carbon disulfide is a risk factor and has been identified in industrial worker case studies and has induced parkinsonism in mice. It is mainly used in the manufacture of viscose rayon and rubber. Carbon disulfide has been mixed with carbon tetrachloride for use in the fumigation of grain.
Well-researched human vitamin deficiencies involve thiamine (beriberi), niacin (pellagra), vitamin C (scurvy), folate (neural tube defects) and vitamin D (rickets). In much of the developed world these deficiencies are rare due to an adequate supply of food and the addition of vitamins to common foods. In addition to these classical vitamin deficiency diseases, some evidence has also suggested links between vitamin deficiency and a number of different disorders.
Secondary immunodeficiencies, also known as acquired immunodeficiencies, can result from various immunosuppressive agents, for example, malnutrition, aging, particular medications (e.g., chemotherapy, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, immunosuppressive drugs after organ transplants, glucocorticoids) and environmental toxins like mercury and other heavy metals, pesticides and petrochemicals like styrene, dichlorobenzene, xylene, and ethylphenol. For medications, the term immunosuppression generally refers to both beneficial and potential adverse effects of decreasing the immune system's functions. The term immunodeficiency generally refers solely to the adverse effect of increased risk of infection. Many specific diseases directly or indirectly cause immunosuppression. This includes many types of cancer, particularly those of the bone marrow and blood cells (leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma), and certain chronic infections. Immunodeficiency is also the hallmark of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV directly infects a small number of T helper cells, and also impairs other immune system responses indirectly. Various hormonal and metabolic disorders can also result in immune deficiency, including anemia, hypothyroidism, and hyperglycemia. Smoking tobacco, heavy alcohol use, and substance use also depress the immune response. Heavy schedules of training and competition in athletes increases their risk of immune deficiencies.
The Cherokee Freedmen, descendants of African American slaves owned by citizens of the Cherokee Nation during the Antebellum Period, were first guaranteed Cherokee citizenship under a new treaty made in 1866 with the United States. This was in the wake of the American Civil War, when the US emancipated slaves by passing a constitutional amendment granting freedmen citizenship in the United States. After the war the US government required that the Cherokee Nation, which under pressure had briefly allied with the Confederate States of America, end slavery and grant full citizenship to Freedmen living within their nation. Those who left could become United States citizens. However, despite "the promises of the 1866 treaty, the freedmen were never fully accepted as citizens of the Cherokee Nation" during the 19th and 20th centuries. In practice, enrollment in the Cherokee Nation rolls was often strongly influenced by race. During creation of the Dawes Rolls prior to allotment of tribal communal lands to households, many Freedmen and Afro-Cherokees were listed separately from Cherokee by blood, regardless of their ancestry or culture. As a result, they did not receive land allotments and later were for a time excluded from tribal membership.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Legal status varies by country. It is not approved as a medicine, and it is prohibited in sport. Some jurisdictions restrict import, sale, or possession.
Laboratories use liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to detect GW501516 and its metabolites. Urine is commonly tested, and testing can occur in and out of competition.
No, cardarine is not a SARM. It is a PPARδ agonist, which acts on a different receptor. The two classes are often confused in online discussions.
Cardarine is commonly known as GW501516 or GW-1516. These names refer to the same synthetic compound. It is not a brand-name approved medicine.