Getting your first vial right, from the first draw.
A plain-language reference for reconstitution, measurement and commonly referenced starting points across six of the most-studied peptides — built for researchers who are new to handling lyophilised compounds.
Turning a lyophilised vial into a working solution
Every peptide arrives as a freeze-dried powder. Reconstitution simply means adding a liquid — almost always bacteriostatic water — to bring it back into solution so it can be measured and drawn accurately.
Sanitise everything
Wipe the vial stopper and your work surface with an alcohol swab before you begin. Use a fresh needle for reconstitution and, ideally, a separate one for drawing doses.
Add the water slowly
Insert the needle at an angle and let the bacteriostatic water run down the inside wall of the vial rather than hitting the powder directly.
Don't shake it
Peptide bonds can shear under agitation. Swirl the vial gently between your palms until the solution runs clear, then let it sit for a minute.
Label and date it
Note the concentration and reconstitution date on the vial itself. Most reconstituted peptides are best used within 2–4 weeks when refrigerated.
Prefer not to do the maths by hand? The reconstitution & dosage calculator on our product pages will do this for you automatically — just enter your vial size and desired dose.
Unit conversions, at a glance
Most confusion at this stage comes from moving between milligrams, micrograms and the "unit" markings on an insulin syringe. This table covers the conversions you'll use every time you draw a dose.
| From | To | Conversion |
|---|---|---|
| 1 milligram (mg) | micrograms (mcg) | 1,000 mcg |
| 0.5 milligram (mg) | micrograms (mcg) | 500 mcg |
| 0.1 milligram (mg) | micrograms (mcg) | 100 mcg |
| 1 gram (g) | milligrams (mg) | 1,000 mg |
| Syringe size | Full capacity | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 0.3mL syringe | 30 units | Small daily doses — widest spacing between marks, easiest to read precisely |
| 0.5mL syringe | 50 units | Small–medium doses — a common middle ground |
| 1mL syringe | 100 units | Larger or weekly doses that need more volume |
On every one of these, 1 unit always equals 0.01mL — a 0.3mL syringe doesn't measure differently to a 1mL syringe, it just has fewer units to work with and wider spacing, which makes small doses easier to read accurately.
| Bac water added | Concentration | What 20 units delivers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 mL | 5 mg/mL | 1,000 mcg |
| 2 mL | 2.5 mg/mL | 500 mcg |
| 5 mL | 1 mg/mL | 200 mcg |
Draw to 20 units on any of those three vials and you'd be pinning a completely different amount — because the units on your syringe describe volume, and volume only maps to a dose once you know the concentration.
That's why it's worth training yourself to remember your dose (e.g. 250mcg), not your units (e.g. "20 units"). Your dose stays true no matter how you reconstitute next time — your unit count doesn't. It's also the only version of that information that's actually useful to anyone else: if a person tells you they "pin 20 units," that's meaningless without knowing their vial size and how much bac water they added. If they tell you they pin 250mcg, you know exactly what they're taking.
Six commonly studied peptides
A quick reference for what each compound is, why it turns up in research protocols, and the starting points most commonly referenced in the community. These are starting ranges for research purposes, not prescriptions — see the note at the end of this guide.
Why researchers use it
A stable 15-amino-acid fragment derived from a protective protein found in gastric juice. It's one of the most widely studied peptides for tissue repair — particularly tendon, ligament and gut-lining models — and is often paired with TB-500 in recovery-focused protocols.
Reconstitution notes
Typically supplied in 10mg vials. Reconstituting with 2mL of bacteriostatic water gives a 5mg/mL solution, a convenient concentration for small daily doses.
Why researchers use it
The newest and most potent of the incretin-class peptides in wide research use, acting on three metabolic receptor pathways at once. It's studied primarily in the context of body composition and metabolic markers, and is dosed on a weekly rather than daily cycle.
Reconstitution notes
Typically supplied in 5–10mg vials. Because doses are small relative to vial size, reconstituting with 2mL gives enough resolution to measure weekly doses accurately on an insulin syringe.
Why researchers use it
Studied for its role in cell migration and structural protein regulation, TB-500 is a frequent subject in soft-tissue and flexibility-related research, often run alongside BPC-157 as a "loading and maintenance" pair.
Reconstitution notes
Typically supplied in 10mg vials. Reconstituting with 2mL of bacteriostatic water gives a 5mg/mL solution, keeping the higher loading-phase dose within a single, easy-to-draw syringe volume.
Why researchers use it
Encoded within mitochondrial DNA, MOTS-c is studied for its signalling role in metabolic regulation and exercise physiology, making it a common subject in research looking at insulin sensitivity and energy metabolism.
Reconstitution notes
Typically supplied in 10mg vials. Reconstituting with 2mL gives a 5mg/mL solution, well suited to the larger per-dose amounts commonly used.
Why researchers use it
A naturally occurring copper complex that declines with age, GHK-Cu is one of the most established peptides in dermal and wound-healing research, and appears in both topical and injectable study formats.
Reconstitution notes
Typically supplied in 50mg vials for injectable research use. Reconstituting with 5mL gives a 10mg/mL solution — dilute further if working with very small daily doses.
Why researchers use it
The smallest peptide on this list, KPV is studied for its anti-inflammatory signalling activity, particularly in gut and skin models, without the pigmentation effects associated with full-length alpha-MSH.
Reconstitution notes
Typically supplied in 10mg vials. A 2mL reconstitution (5mg/mL) is a practical concentration for the small daily doses most protocols call for.