# MOTS-c peptide dosage in the research literature: doses, routes, and half-life > MOTS-c peptide dosage as used in animal research: rodent doses from 0.5 to 15 mg/kg, intraperitoneal and subcutaneous routes, and the absence of validated human pharmacokinetics. Research context only. The doses, routes, and durations used in animal studies — and why no validated human regimen exists. ## Before the details Everything about MOTS-c peptide dosage here comes from animal studies, and none of it is a human instruction. Researchers gave mice MOTS-c by injection into the abdominal cavity, at doses scaled to body weight — anywhere from a small daily dose to a much larger one, over weeks. There is no measured human half-life, no validated human dose, and no approved formulation. This page describes what was given to which animals by which route, so you can read the numbers in context, not follow them. ## MOTS-c Dosage in the Research Literature All published in-vivo dosing comes from rodents. The 2015 founding metabolic study used approximately 0.5 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally for chronic treatment (about 8 weeks) and 5 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally for a shorter acute protocol (7 days) [1]. The 2021 aged-mouse physical-capacity studies used 15 mg/kg/day, or 15 mg/kg three times weekly, intraperitoneally [2]. Bone studies have used 5 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally for 12 weeks [4]. Three things follow from reading those figures together. First, the dose range is wide — a thirtyfold spread from the 0.5 mg/kg chronic metabolic protocol to the 15 mg/kg performance protocol — because the studies were optimizing for different endpoints, metabolic homeostasis in one case and physical capacity in another [1][2]. Second, the frequency was matched to the endpoint, not to a clock: chronic metabolic and bone studies dosed daily over weeks, while the exercise work used both daily and thrice-weekly schedules [1][2][4]. Third, all of it is *milligrams per kilogram* — a body-weight-scaled laboratory figure, not a fixed amount. These are doses administered to mice, scaled to the animal's body weight and expressed per kilogram. They are not human doses and cannot be converted into one — there is no human dose-response study to calibrate against, and allometric scaling from a mouse is not a validated substitute for a measured human dose [12]. This site does not provide a human dosing schedule. ## Routes Studied: Intraperitoneal and Subcutaneous Injection The dominant route in the literature is intraperitoneal (IP) injection — directly into the abdominal cavity — which is standard for rodent metabolic work and accounts for the figures above [1][2]. Subcutaneous injection appears in some research contexts, and cell-culture (in-vitro) work uses direct application [3][4]. Because native MOTS-c is a small unmodified peptide expected to be short-lived, some groups have engineered cell-penetrating analogues to improve delivery in specific models [4]. ### How often do you inject MOTS-c? No human dosing schedule is validated. Rodent studies used daily or thrice-weekly intraperitoneal injection [1][2], and those frequencies were chosen for mouse experiments — they cannot be extrapolated to humans, and this digest does not recommend any human schedule. ### Where is best to inject MOTS-c? Rodent research used intraperitoneal injection — into the abdominal cavity — which is a laboratory technique, not a human practice [1][2]. There is no validated human injection-site guidance, and this digest does not provide administration instructions. ### Can I inject MOTS-c every day? Daily dosing was used in some rodent studies (for example, ~0.5 mg/kg/day in the 2015 metabolic work) [1], but no human regimen is validated and this digest does not recommend any human schedule [12]. ### How long should you take MOTS-c? Rodent studies ran from roughly one week (acute protocols) to twelve weeks (chronic metabolic and bone endpoints) depending on what was being measured [1][4]. No human duration has been established, so there is no evidence-based answer for people [12]. ## MOTS-c Half-Life: No Validated Human Pharmacokinetics There is no published, measured human pharmacokinetic half-life for MOTS-c [12]. As a small, unmodified peptide, native MOTS-c is expected to be short-lived in circulation, which is consistent with why published in-vivo work relies on repeated daily or thrice-weekly dosing rather than a measured human t1/2 [12]. Cell-penetrating analogues have been engineered specifically to improve delivery and exposure in research settings [4]. What *is* documented in humans is the body's own peptide, not an administered one. Circulating MOTS-c is measurable in plasma, shifts with exercise and metabolic state, and was independently associated with a mortality and cardiovascular endpoint in a 2024 hemodialysis cohort [4][8][13]. Those are endogenous-level measurements — they describe how much MOTS-c a person already makes, not how an injected dose behaves over time. A biomarker concentration is not a pharmacokinetic curve. The practical consequence: without a validated half-life, bioavailability, or dose-response in humans, the rodent dosing figures above cannot be translated into a human interval or dose [12]. The gap is not a detail awaiting a footnote — it is the reason every dosing number on this page stays attached to the species and study it came from. ## Reported Safety Signals and Unknowns No completed human safety trial has characterized side effects for exogenous MOTS-c [12]. The animal studies above did not report the peptide as overtly toxic at the doses used, but rodent tolerability is not a human safety profile. The larger issue is structural: MOTS-c is sold only as a research chemical, and product purity, identity, and sterility are not regulated as pharmaceuticals and vary by supplier [12]. That combination — no human safety data, no validated PK, and unregulated material quality — is the honest summary of the safety picture. Anti-doping prohibition is a separate consideration covered on [MOTS-c legal status and 503A access](/legal-status). ### Stability and form MOTS-c is supplied as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder for research; reconstitution and storage conditions are vendor- and study-specific, and no standardized human formulation exists [4]. --- A cobalt-glazed azulejo panel of the MOTS-c record — the mitochondrial peptide's metabolic and exercise-mimetic findings set tile by tile and cited to source, the empty human-trial squares left openly unglazed, and the FDA 503A standing painted before anything else; no clinic behind the panel and nothing here dispensed or sold.