# MOTS-c peptide Dosage in Research, Half-Life, and Routes Studied > MOTS-c peptide dosage as it appears in the research literature: rodent ranges of 0.5–15 mg/kg/day IP, the lack of a validated human half-life, and the injection routes used in studies. Animal research only; not human dosing guidance. The dose figures animal studies actually used, the pharmacokinetics that have not been measured in people, and why the two must not be confused. ## Read this first 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](/legal-status) page. The molecular reference points stay fixed across the literature: a 16-amino-acid peptide, sequence MRWQEMGYIFYPRKLR, molecular weight 2174.61 Da [1]. --- A thermographic read of the MOTS-c record — each finding logged at the temperature its data actually run and the research-use and FDA standing read before anything else; no clinic behind the instrument and nothing here dispensed or sold.