Agmatine Sulfate

Human studies

• Keynan 2010, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, sciatica from a herniated lumbar disc. An open-label dose-escalation phase in four groups (1.335 to 3.560 g of agmatine sulfate a day for 10 to 21 days) was followed by a double-blind trial of 2.670 g a day or placebo for 14 days. The primary outcomes were pain, measured with a visual analog scale, the McGill pain questionnaire and the Oswestry disability index, along with sensorimotor deficits and SF-36 quality of life. Of 99 randomized participants (51 agmatine, 48 placebo), 61 were analyzed (31 and 30). Average pain measures improved by 26.7 percent with agmatine against 6.0 percent with placebo, and quality-of-life scores by 70.8 against 20.0 percent (P of 0.05 or less for both); the abstract reports these two averages and no separate result for sensorimotor deficits (PMID: 20447305). The trial's ClinicalTrials.gov record (NCT00405041) lists it as Phase 2/3 with an enrollment of 79 and names the intervention as a dietary supplement coded GVG 2.
• Rosenberg 2020, JFK Medical Center, New Jersey, painful small fiber neuropathy. In an open-label case series without a control group, 11 of 12 patients completed 2 months of agmatine sulfate at 2.67 g a day; on the primary outcome, a 12-item neuropathic pain questionnaire, all reported less pain, an average 46.4 percent reduction (PMID: 32102167). The study's ClinicalTrials.gov record (NCT01524666) lists that questionnaire, scored after 2 months, as its primary outcome.
• Shopsin 2013, New York, depression. In an uncontrolled pilot, three patients with major depression remitted while taking agmatine and did not relapse when the serotonin-depleting drug parachlorophenylalanine was added (PMID: 25287313).
• Gilad 2014, self-report. The two authors took agmatine sulfate daily for 4 to 5 years and reported normal examinations and laboratory tests (PMID: 25247837).
• Kundnani 2026, India, subacute spinal cord injury. In a 120-patient randomized trial without placebo, adding a product that combined inosine monophosphate, agmatine sulfate and L-carnosine to standard care for 6 months improved motor scores, independence scores and quality of life but not sensory scores. The trial cannot separate the effect of agmatine (PMID: 42713349).

Animal and cell studies

PubMed lists about 1,870 papers with agmatine in the title or abstract (search on 25 October 2026), and a 2018 review noted that most agmatine studies were done in experimental models rather than in people (PMID: 28786346). These results come from animals and cells, not people:

• Pain. In rodents, agmatine reduced pain hypersensitivity after inflammation and nerve injury and reduced injury after excitotoxic spinal cord damage, without blocking acute pain (PMID: 10984543).
• Opioids. In mice, agmatine shifted morphine's pain-relieving dose more than fivefold and prevented morphine tolerance (PMID: 8720472). A 2006 review described agmatine as potentiating morphine analgesia and reducing dependence and withdrawal in animals (PMID: 17025265).
• Depression models. In mice, agmatine reduced immobility in the forced swim and tail suspension tests, which are used to screen antidepressants (PMID: 11930146). Ana Lucia Rodrigues's group in Florianopolis, Brazil, ran that mouse study and later reviewed the antidepressant evidence (PMID: 11930146, PMID: 27836390).
• Brain and spinal cord injury. In rats, agmatine sped motor recovery and preserved motor neurons after spinal cord ischemia (PMID: 11108990), and reduced infarct volume, swelling and cell death after temporary blockage of a brain artery (PMID: 20815926).
• Blood sugar. In rats with chemically induced diabetes, a month of agmatine injections lowered blood glucose from 502 to 343 mg/dl (PMID: 12798665).
• Heart and blood vessels. A 2025 systematic review of 60 preclinical studies found that agmatine raised or lowered blood pressure and heart rate depending on dose, route and receptor (PMID: 41283257).
• Seizures. In mice, agmatine did not prevent electroshock seizures on its own but strengthened phenobarbital and valproate (PMID: 18379717).

Pharmacokinetics

No human pharmacokinetic study was found. In rats, intravenous agmatine had a plasma half-life of about 15 to 19 minutes and oral agmatine about 74 to 117 minutes, with oral bioavailability of 29 to 35 percent (PMID: 37770201).

Animal and laboratory safety data

• Rats, 95 days. Rats given agmatine sulfate in drinking water had slight but significant falls in body weight and blood pressure and drank less water; these changes reversed within 20 days of stopping, and necropsy found no organ damage (PMID: 24140462).
• Mice, up to 15 weeks. Daily oral agmatine sulfate was well tolerated, and organ histology after 15 weeks showed no pathology (PMID: 31481723).
• Genetic toxicity. A proprietary agmatine sulfate was negative in a bacterial mutation test, a chromosome damage test in hamster cells and a mouse micronucleus test; the authors came from a private company and a toxicology testing company (PMID: 39286406).

Gaps

The human studies are small, lasted from days to 2 months apart from the 5-year self-report, and most come from one research group (PMID: 20447305, PMID: 32102167, PMID: 25247837). The 2010 trial excluded pregnant and breastfeeding women and people taking blood pressure medicines for hypertension (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00405041), and no human safety data in pregnancy were found.