MOTS-c peptide dosage, half-life, and routes in the research record

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Every number on this page about MOTS-c peptide dosage comes from animal experiments. Researchers gave mice measured amounts to study what the peptide does — those amounts are written as milligrams per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg), and "IP" means the injection went into the abdominal cavity, a standard route in rodent work. None of it is a human dose. No one has run the studies in people that would establish a safe human amount, schedule, or half-life. Read the figures here as a record of how the science was done, not as guidance for use.

MOTS-c Dosage in the Research Literature

Published rodent studies cluster in a few dose bands, all by intraperitoneal (IP) injection. In preclinical mouse metabolic studies, the founding work used about 0.5 mg/kg/day IP for a chronic (roughly 8-week) regimen and 5 mg/kg/day IP for a shorter 7-day acute regimen ^[1]. In aged-mouse physical-capacity studies, the dose stepped up to 15 mg/kg/day or 15 mg/kg three times per week IP ^[2]. A membrane-repair study paired high-intensity exercise with MOTS-c at 15 mg/kg daily ^[12]. The bone literature has used 5 mg/kg/day IP for up to 12 weeks as a study duration.

These ranges describe what was administered to which species by which route — the standard way to report a research protocol. They are not converted to, and cannot be converted to, a human dose. There is no validated human dose-response for MOTS-c ^[4]. The honest reading of the dosing literature is a set of animal protocols, with the human column blank.

MOTS-c Half-Life and Pharmacokinetics

MOTS-c Half-Life and Pharmacokinetics

No validated human pharmacokinetic half-life has been published. As a small, unmodified peptide, native MOTS-c is expected to be short-lived in circulation, and the published in-vivo work relies on repeated daily or thrice-weekly dosing rather than a measured human t½ ^[1][2]. That repeated-dosing design is itself the clue: studies dose often because the native peptide does not persist, not because a human half-life has been characterized.

Delivery is an active research problem. Cell-penetrating analogues of MOTS-c have been engineered to improve uptake in specific contexts, which underscores that the native peptide's pharmacokinetics are a limitation researchers are still working around ^[4]. For how often studies dosed and why, see the frequency section below.

Dosing Frequency and Routes in Research

Dosing Frequency in the Research Literature

There is no validated human dosing schedule. Published rodent studies used repeated regimens such as daily IP injection ^[1] or 15 mg/kg three times per week IP ^[2]. These are animal-research protocols designed to maintain exposure of a short-lived peptide, not human dosing guidance.

Daily Versus Intermittent Dosing in Studies

Rodent studies used both daily and thrice-weekly IP regimens — daily dosing in metabolic work ^[1] and both daily and 15 mg/kg three-times-weekly schedules in aged-mouse capacity studies ^[2]. There is no validated human schedule, and these animal protocols are not a recommendation for human use.

Injection Routes Used in Research

In published animal studies MOTS-c was given by intraperitoneal (IP) injection, the dominant route in rodent work ^[1][2]. Subcutaneous injection appears in the broader research context, and cell-culture and cell-penetrating-analogue delivery feature in mechanistic studies ^[4]. These are research routes; there is no validated human injection-site guidance.

Study Durations in the Literature

Published animal studies ran for varying durations — roughly 8 weeks in the founding metabolic model ^[1] and up to 12 weeks in a bone study. No human treatment duration has been established, so these durations describe experiments, not regimens.

Formulation and Stability Notes

MOTS-c is supplied for research as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder; lyophilization is simply freeze-drying into a stable solid that is reconstituted before use. Reconstitution and storage conditions are vendor- and study-specific, and no standardized human formulation exists ^[4]. Because the material is sold for laboratory research rather than as a pharmaceutical, identity, purity, and sterility are not regulated to drug standards and vary by supplier — a point covered further on the MOTS-c legal status and 503A access page. The molecular reference points stay fixed across the literature: a 16-amino-acid peptide, sequence MRWQEMGYIFYPRKLR, molecular weight 2174.61 Da ^[1].