Everything below concerns unapproved substance. We keep the language plain, cite what the science says, and separate well-supported claims from open questions.
Last reviewed on 2026-01-18. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
Legal status varies by country. In some places, cardarine is controlled under medicines or psychoactive substances laws; in others, it may be sold with minimal oversight as a research chemical. Customs agencies have intercepted shipments, and several national health agencies have issued warnings about products marketed for bodybuilding or performance enhancement. The lack of a standardized pharmaceutical supply means identity, purity, and contamination levels can differ widely between samples. These factors make cardarine a regulatory and public health concern rather than a conventional prescription drug.
Cardarine is a common name for GW501516, a synthetic compound first described in the 1990s as a selective agonist of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta. It was studied in preclinical models for metabolic and cardiovascular conditions, but it has not been approved as a medicine in the United States, Europe, or other major jurisdictions. Retail products labeled as cardarine are generally research chemicals or supplements, not pharmaceutical formulations. Because human safety and efficacy data remain limited, regulatory agencies treat it as an unapproved substance rather than a therapeutic product.
Regulatory treatment varies, but cardarine is not approved as a medicine. Sports authorities list GW501516 as a prohibited substance, and it is banned at all times under the World Anti-Doping Agency code. Many countries restrict sales for human consumption, while online vendors market it as a research chemical. Such products may lack purity data, and their actual contents can differ from the label. Purchasing or possessing cardarine may carry legal consequences depending on jurisdiction. The compound is not a dietary supplement ingredient in regulated markets.
Clinical development stopped after rodent studies showed tumors at multiple sites. Whether those findings predict human cancer risk remains an open question, but they led sponsors to discontinue programs. Human safety data are limited to small, short-term studies that were not designed to assess cancer risk. Reported effects in those studies included changes in blood lipids, but the evidence is insufficient for medical use. Long-term consequences of nonmedical use are not well characterized. Questions about dose, duration, and individual susceptibility remain unresolved.
Cardarine is a common name for GW501516, an investigational compound developed in the 1990s for metabolic conditions. It acts as an agonist at peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta, a nuclear receptor involved in lipid and energy metabolism. The compound is frequently mislabeled as a selective androgen receptor modulator, or SARM, but its molecular target is different. GW501516 reached early clinical testing before development was discontinued. It has no approved therapeutic use in any country. The name cardarine is not a formal international nonproprietary name.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IUPAC name | {4-[({4-methyl-2-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1,3-thiazol-5-yl}methyl)sulfanyl]phenoxy}acetic acid | Systematic name for GW501516 |
| CAS Registry Number | 317318-70-0 | Unique identifier for the parent compound |
| Molecular formula | C21H18F3NO3S2 | Includes carbon, hydrogen, fluorine, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur |
| Molecular weight | 453.5 g/mol | Approximate value for the neutral form |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typical description for purified laboratory material |
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.
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.
Laboratory studies have examined GW501516 in cell cultures and rodents for conditions such as dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and obesity. Some trials in humans were initiated, but development was discontinued after preclinical findings raised concerns about cancer in certain models. Those findings do not prove that the compound causes cancer in people, but they contributed to regulatory caution. Later reviews often describe the evidence as preliminary and insufficient for assessing long-term safety.
In the fitness and bodybuilding literature, cardarine is frequently discussed as an endurance agent or fat-loss compound, although such claims are not supported by robust clinical evidence. Online descriptions often mix animal data, user anecdotes, and marketing language. Researchers who study PPARδ agonists distinguish between receptor activation in controlled experiments and unsupervised use of unverified products. The latter introduces unknown purity, dose, and interactions, making reported experiences difficult to interpret scientifically.
GW501516 binds and activates PPARδ, a nuclear receptor that influences transcription of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation and energy use. Activation shifts some metabolic pathways in preclinical models, which is why the compound has been studied for lipid disorders and exercise-related endpoints. The exact downstream effects in humans are incompletely mapped. PPARδ is expressed in many tissues, including skeletal muscle, liver, and adipose tissue, so broad activation may have varied consequences. Researchers continue to examine how selective or partial activation might alter the balance between benefits and risks.
Published human data are sparse and mostly come from early-phase trials. Those studies examined short-term changes in lipids, glucose, and exercise capacity, but they were not large enough to establish efficacy or long-term safety. Some animal experiments reported increased running endurance, yet such findings do not prove a performance benefit in people. Anti-doping laboratories detect GW501516 and its metabolites in urine or blood using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Detection windows depend on dose, sample type, and individual metabolism. The method is sensitive enough to identify trace residues in tested samples.
254Es was used as the calibration marker in the chemical analysis spectrometer ("alpha-scattering surface analyzer") of the Surveyor 5 lunar probe. The large mass of this isotope reduced the spectral overlap between signals from the marker and the studied lighter elements of the lunar surface.
== Calculation of Accessible Surface Area == Accessible surface areas is a measure of the solvent exposure of individual atoms or residues (measured in square Angstroms). It corresponds to the surface area of an atom (or residue) that a water molecule can access or touch. In VADAR, the accessible surface areas (ASA) for each residue is presented under two different column headers: RES ASA (residue ASA) and FRAC ASA (fractional ASA). The data listed under the RES ASA column refers to the “residue accessible surface areas” as measured in square Angstroms. The data listed under the FRAC ASA column refers to the fractional residue accessible surface areas (a value ranging from 0 to 1.0). Exposed, exterior, random coil or hydrophilic residues typically have a large fractional accessible surface areas (>0.5), while hydrophobic, beta sheet or interior residues have a small fractional accessible surface areas (<0.2). The fractional accessible surface areas is calculated by dividing a given residue’s observed accessible surface areas by the calculated accessible surface areas for that residue in an extended Gly-Xaa-Gly tripeptide (where Xaa is the residue of interest). VADAR reports accessible surface are values both for the entire amino acid residue and for the amino acid side chains. The accessible surface areas is also calculated for charged atoms (N, O), polar (N, O, S) atoms and for non-polar atoms (C). This information can be used to calculate charged, polar and non-polar surface area.
VUV absorbance spectra also exhibit feature similarity within compound classes, meaning VUV detectors can rapidly compound class characterization in complex samples through compound spectral shape and retention index information. Advances in technology reduces the typical group analysis data processing time from 15 to 30 minutes to <1 minute per sample.
Psychotherapy is the general term for the scientific based treatment of mental health issues based on modern medicine. It includes a number of schools, such as gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychedelic therapy, transpersonal psychology/psychotherapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. Group therapy involves any type of therapy that takes place in a setting involving multiple people. It can include psychodynamic groups, expressive therapy groups, support groups (including the Twelve-step program), problem-solving and psychoeducation groups.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Plastics == Plastic drawing, sometimes referred to as cold drawing, is the same process as used on metal bars, applied to plastics. Plastic drawing is primarily used in manufacturing plastic fibers. The process was discovered by Julian W. Hill in 1930 while trying to make fibers from an early polyester. It is performed after the material has been "spun" into filaments; by extruding the polymer melt through pores of a spinneret. During this process, the individual polymer chains tend to somewhat align because of viscous flow. These filaments still have an amorphous structure, so they are drawn to align the fibers further, thus increasing crystallinity, tensile strength, and stiffness. This is done on a draw twister machine. For nylon, the fiber is stretched to four times its spun length. The crystals formed during drawing are held together by hydrogen bonds between the amide hydrogens of one chain and the carbonyl oxygens of another chain. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet is drawn in two dimensions to make BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) with improved mechanical properties.
Power, water, fuel, communications, and transportation infrastructure all may be vulnerable to sabotage. According to Clarke, the civilian realm is also at risk, noting that the security breaches have already gone beyond stolen credit card numbers, and that potential targets can also include the electric power grid, trains, or the stock market.
== Symbol encoding in character sets == The official symbol for the SI prefix micro is a Greek lowercase mu (μ). For reasons stemming from its design, Unicode has two different character codes for the letter, with slightly different appearance in some computer fonts, although most fonts use the same glyph. U+03BC μ GREEK SMALL LETTER MU is in the Greek range. According to The Unicode Consortium, the Greek letter character is preferred, but implementations must recognize the micro sign as well, for compatibility with legacy character sets. This distinction also occurs in some legacy code pages, notably Windows-1253. In circumstances in which only the Latin alphabet is available, ISO 2955 (since 1974, withdrawn 2001), DIN 66030 (since 1980) and BS 6430 (since 1983) allow the prefix μ to be substituted by the letter ⟨u⟩ (U+0075 u LATIN SMALL LETTER U) as, for example, in um for μm, or uF for μF . Similarly, capacitor values according to the RKM code defined in IEC 60062 (since 1952) can be written as 4u7 (or 4U7) instead of 4μ7 if the Greek letter μ is not available. The CJK Compatibility block contains square forms of some Japanese katakana measure and currency units. U+3343 ㍃ SQUARE MAIKURO corresponds to マイクロ maikuro.
== Safety challenges == Because pyrolysis takes place at high temperatures which exceed the autoignition temperature of the produced gases, an explosion risk exists if oxygen is present. Careful temperature control is needed for pyrolysis systems, which can be accomplished with pyrolysis controller. Pyrolysis also produces various toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide. The greatest risk of fire, explosion, and release of toxic gases comes when the system is starting up and shutting down, operating intermittently, or during operational upsets. Inert gas purging is essential to manage inherent explosion risks. The procedure is not trivial and failure to keep oxygen out has led to accidents.
== Structure == The basic structure of the hydrophobic retinoid molecule consists of a cyclic end group, a polyene side chain, and a polar end group. The conjugated system formed by alternating C=C double bonds in the polyene side chain is responsible for the color of retinoids (typically yellow, orange, or red). Hence, many retinoids are chromophores. Alternation of side chains and end groups creates the various classes of retinoids. First-generation retinoids are produced naturally in the body and interact with their normal biological counterparts, such as retinol binding protein 4 for retinol, retinoid receptors for all-trans-retinoic acid or 9-cis-retinoic acid. 13-cis retinoic acid has an unknown biological pathway but appears to act as a growth factor. Second-generation retinoids have a mixed effect and interact mainly with signaling in the skin. Third generation retinoids have narrow biological roles due to their constrained structure, with adapalene mimicking the effects of isotretinoin, bexarotene binding only the retinoid X receptors, and tazarotene binding the retinoic acid receptor beta and retinoic acid receptor gamma forms. The only fourth-generation retinoid, Trifarotene, binds selectively to the RAR-y receptor. It was approved for use in the US in 2019.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
No. Major drug regulators have not approved GW501516 for treating any medical condition. Products sold as cardarine are typically unapproved research chemicals or supplements, so their contents and safety are not assured.
It is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency as a hormone and metabolic modulator. Athletes who test positive for GW501516 can face sanctions, including suspensions and loss of results.
Cardarine is a common or trade-style name, while GW501516 is the research code for the same chemical entity. Some sources also use Endurobol or GSK-516. The names refer to the same compound, not distinct drugs.
No. Cardarine is GW501516, a PPARδ agonist, while SARMs act on androgen receptors. The two classes are often grouped in informal discussions despite different mechanisms.