We would recommend you consider using NAC for:

1. Animals that live in homes with smokers
2. Animals with chronic coughs
3. Animals that have been diagnosed with respiratory disease
4. As a part of a detoxification program
5. Liver disease; for liver disease, also see:
   1. Dogs - Hepagen C, click here (then use your web browser's back button to return to this page)
   2. Cats - Hepagen F, click here (then use your web browser's back button to return to this page)
6. Tylenol or acetaminophen toxicity
7. Other liver toxins, including aflatoxin poisoning (for information on aflatoxin poisoning click here)
8. Inflammatory conditions, including arthritis, degenerative joint disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Colitis.

N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) is cysteine and a sulfhydryl group, enabling it to interact with disulfide bonds. The mucoprotein disulfide bonds are strengthened by NAC, making for a better mucous layer in the pulmonary system and intestinal tract.

Another remarkable aspect of NAC is that it serves as a nutritional precursor for the synthesis of glutathione^1,2. Reduced glutathione is the body's primary antioxidant. This makes NAC an excellent antioxidant.

There is no known toxicity to NAC.

NAC supplementation may benefit:

1. Liver Disease - protects against liver toxins
2. Pulmonary diseases and chronic bronchitis - cleans harmful debris out of the lungs
3. Detoxification - enhances several areas of the body's detoxification system
4. Enhanced glutathione levels - glutathione is the body's number one antioxidant

How NAC Works:

Cysteine is an amino acid that is closely related to cystine. (Cystine is two cysteine molecules combined together.) Cysteine is a sulfur-containing amino acid. It is important in helping with the formation of keratin and in enhancing keratin's strength. (Keratin strengthens beaks, nails, feathers, hair, and skin.) It is a vital component of the detoxification pathways of the liver and intestines. It is also a free-radical scavenger and antioxidant. The antioxidant properties are largely due to its ability to bind with an acetyl group, becoming N-acetyl-D-cysteine (NAC). NAC seems to function by increasing the available levels of reduced glutathione³. Glutathione is the body's most important antioxidant.

A lot of interest has been generated in this fact. It is well understood that optimal levels of antioxidants will prevent aging, cancer, degenerative disease, and organ damage. Because of this, nutritional medicine has long sought ways to increase reduced glutathione levels. Glutathione is available as a supplement but it is expensive and may not be absorbed intact through the intestines when taken orally. All antioxidants, including the inexpensive ascorbic acid, will increase levels of reduced glutathione. The question becomes, which product is most cost effective? The only answer that seems clear is that supplementation with reduced glutathione is not the most cost effective method.

Western medicine has been using NAC as an agent to enhance and moisten the mucous layer in the respiratory system. A fluid mucous layer literally sweeps out debris from the lungs. One product used in medicine is called Mucomyst™, which is pure NAC administered by the use of a nebulizer. NAC seems to be just as effective at breaking down mucous when given orally, and the cost becomes less than the use of a product like Mucomyst.

We would recommend you consider using NAC for:

1. Animals that live in homes with smokers
2. Animals with chronic coughs
3. Animals that have been diagnosed with respiratory disease
4. As a part of a detoxification program
5. Liver disease; for liver disease, also see:
   1. Dogs - Hepagen C, click here (then use your web browser's back button to return to this page)
   2. Cats - Hepagen F, click here (then use your web browser's back button to return to this page)
6. Tylenol or acetaminophen toxicity
7. Other liver toxins, including aflatoxin poisoning (for information on aflatoxin poisoning click here)
8. Inflammatory conditions, including arthritis, degenerative joint disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Colitis.

NAC Injections:

NAC can also be given by injections. It works to decrease inflammation, provide sulfur which is very beneficial to arthritic joints, and helps detoxify the body. At the Chaparral Animal Health Center, NAC is commonly given in combination with NAG. To read about NAG, click here.

Dosage (orally, can be placed in food):

Dogs:

• 1/4 capsule for each 20 lbs. body weight (can be placed in food)

Cats:

• 1/4 capsule daily (can be placed in food)

Birds:

• 1/32 capsule for each 500 gram body weight
• Place a pinch in soft foods twice daily

Ferrets:

• 1/8 capsule in food once daily

1. Corcoran GB. Mitchell JR. Mechanism of action of N-acetylcysteine in the protection against the hepatotoxicity of acetaminophen in rats in vivo: Studies with NAC in mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 238:54-61, 1986.

2. Meyer A, Buhl R, Magnussen H. The effects of oral NAC on lung glutathione levels in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Eur Respir J 7:431-436, 1994.

3. Corcoran GB, Wong BK. Role of glutathione in prevention of acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity by N-acetyl cysteine in vivo: Studies with N-acetyl cysteine-D-cysteine in ice. J Pharm Exp Ther 238:54-56; 1986.