1‐Methylnicotinamide (MNA), a primary metabolite of nicotinamide, exerts anti‐thrombotic activity mediated by a cyclooxygenase‐2/prostacyclin pathway

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: 1-methylnicotinamide (MNA) has been considered to be an inactive metabolite of nicotinamide. Here we assessed the anti-thrombotic activity of MNA in vivo. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Antithrombotic action of MNA was studied in normotensive rats with extracorporeal thrombus formation (thrombolysis), in renovascular hypertensive rats with intraarterial thrombus formation (arterial thrombosis) and in a venous thrombosis model in rats (venous thrombosis). KEY RESULTS: MNA (3-100 mg kg(-1)) induced a dose-dependent and sustained thrombolytic response, associated with a rise in 6-keto-PGF(1alpha) in blood. Various compounds structurally related to MNA were either inactive or weaker thrombolytics. Rofecoxib (0.01-1 mg kg(-1)), dose-dependently inhibited the thrombolytic response of MNA, indomethacin (5 mg kg(-1)) abolished it, while L-NAME (5 mg kg(-1)) were without effect. MNA (3-30 mg kg(-1)) also reduced arterial thrombosis and this effect was abrogated by indomethacin (2.5 mg kg(-1)) as well as by rofecoxib (1 mg kg(-1)). MNA, however, did not affect venous thrombosis. In vitro MNA did not modify platelet aggregation nor induce vasodilation. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: MNA displayed a profile of anti-thrombotic activity in vivo that surpasses that of closely related compounds. MNA inhibited platelet-dependent thrombosis by a mechanism involving cyclooxygenase-2 and prostacyclin. Our findings suggest that endogenous MNA, produced in the liver by nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, could be an endogenous activator of prostacyclin production and thus may regulate thrombotic as well as inflammatory processes in the cardiovascular system.