research doses, not a protocol

MOTS-c peptide dosage in the research literature

What was administered to which animals, by which route, for how long — and why none of it is a human dosing schedule.

Before the details

This page describes MOTS-c peptide dosage exactly as it appears in published animal studies — doses given to mice, measured in milligrams per kilogram of body weight, by injection into the abdominal cavity. It is a record of laboratory experiments, not instructions for people. There is no validated human dose, no human dosing schedule, and no measured human half-life. If you take one thing from this page: every number here belongs to a mouse study, and rodent milligram-per-kilogram doses do not translate to humans.

MOTS-c Dosage in the Research Literature

In preclinical mouse work, MOTS-c was given by intraperitoneal (IP) injection — into the abdominal cavity — at body-weight-scaled doses. The founding metabolic studies used roughly 0.5 mg/kg/day for chronic dosing (about 8 weeks) up to 5 mg/kg/day for shorter acute experiments ^[1]. Aged-mouse physical-capacity work used a higher 15 mg/kg/day, or 15 mg/kg three times per week ^[2]. The ovariectomy bone study used 5 mg/kg/day for 12 weeks ^[5]. These figures describe what produced effects in mice; they are not human doses, and there is no human dose-response data to convert them ^[4].

MOTS-c Half-Life and Pharmacokinetics

No validated human pharmacokinetic half-life has been published for MOTS-c ^[4]. As a small, unmodified peptide, native MOTS-c is expected to be short-lived in circulation, which is consistent with the fact that published in-vivo studies relied on repeated daily or thrice-weekly dosing rather than a measured human t1/2 ^[2]^[4]. To improve delivery, researchers have engineered cell-penetrating analogues of MOTS-c in specific contexts (for example, a neuroprotection study) ^[4]. The practical point: there is no measured human bioavailability, clearance, or half-life on which to base anything.

Routes of Administration Studied

The dominant route in the published animal record is intraperitoneal (IP) injection, used in the metabolic, exercise, and bone studies ^[1]^[2]^[5]. Subcutaneous injection appears in the broader research context, cell-culture work underlies the mechanistic findings, and engineered cell-penetrating analogues have been used for peripheral administration in a neurological study ^[4]. MOTS-c is supplied for research as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder; reconstitution and storage are vendor- and study-specific, and no standardized human formulation exists ^[4].

MOTS-c and Body Weight in Animal Studies

In mice, MOTS-c prevented diet-induced obesity rather than promoting weight gain, and increased adipose thermogenesis (heat-producing fat activity) ^[1]. A 2019 study linked it to adipose homeostasis, preventing ovariectomy-induced adiposity and metabolic dysfunction ^[7]. Human biomarker work shows lower circulating MOTS-c in obesity and insulin resistance ^[4]. All of this is associative or animal data; no human weight-management trial of injected MOTS-c has been completed ^[4], so no weight outcome can be stated for people.

MOTS-c, Muscle, and the Exercise-Mimetic Framing

MOTS-c is studied as a candidate exercise mimetic because exercise induces it and, in mice, injecting it enhanced physical capacity — treadmill running rose markedly in aged animals (P=0.000002), with gains in grip strength and gait ^[2]. It also reduced myostatin and muscle-atrophy signaling ^[2], and the 2024 CK2 work tied muscle benefits to tissue-specific kinase modulation ^[13]. A note this site foregrounds: MOTS-c is treated as a prohibited substance in elite sport. Anti-doping authorities such as USADA and WADA classify it among peptide and metabolic-modulator agents prohibited at all times, and athlete use can result in sanctions ^[12].

Study durations at a glance

Reported study durations ranged from single-dose acute experiments to 12 weeks of daily dosing in the bone model ^[5], with metabolic studies running roughly 7 days to 8 weeks ^[1] and exercise studies using daily or thrice-weekly regimens ^[2]. None of these durations implies a human treatment length, because no human treatment exists. They are simply the windows over which effects were measured in animals.