# MOTS-c peptide Dosage in Research: Routes, Half-Life, and Why It Is Animal Data > MOTS-c peptide dosage as expressed in the literature: rodent intraperitoneal doses of 0.5-15 mg/kg/day, route considerations, and the absence of any validated human half-life or schedule. Cited. The published numbers are rodent intraperitoneal doses. There is no validated human pharmacokinetics, half-life, or schedule — this page reports methodology, not guidance. ## Before the numbers A plain caution before any figure. Every MOTS-c peptide dosage number in the literature comes from animal experiments — mostly mice given injections into the abdominal cavity (the intraperitoneal route). These are research designs chosen to study biology, not recommendations for people. No human study has measured a safe dose, a schedule, or how long the molecule lasts in a person's blood. So read the milligram-per-kilogram values below as a record of how scientists ran their experiments, and nothing more. ## How MOTS-c Doses Are Expressed in the Research Literature MOTS-c dosage in published work is expressed per kilogram of body weight, by injection, in animals. The founding metabolic studies used roughly 0.5 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally for chronic dosing (about 8 weeks) and 5 mg/kg/day for short acute studies (7 days) in mice [1]. The aged-mouse physical-capacity work used 15 mg/kg/day, or 15 mg/kg three times weekly, intraperitoneally [2]. A 2023 synthesis of MOTS-c's metabolic actions documents the broader range of study designs and durations [7]. These are animal-model figures. They cannot be converted into a human dose: the milligram-per-kilogram values, the route, and the dosing frequency were all chosen for rodent experiments, and no validated human dose-response exists [4]. This is what "how doses are expressed" means here — a description of study methods, not a protocol. ## MOTS-c Half-Life ### MOTS-c Half-Life 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 published in-vivo work relying on repeated daily or thrice-weekly dosing rather than a single measured human t1/2 [2][4]. Cell-penetrating analogues have been engineered in research to improve delivery, but these are experimental constructs, not a characterized human formulation [4]. ## Routes and administration in studies ### How MOTS-c Is Administered in Studies Intraperitoneal (IP) injection is the dominant route in rodent studies; subcutaneous injection and cell-culture exposure also appear, and one neuroscience study used a cell-penetrating analogue for peripheral delivery [1][2]. There is no validated human route. MOTS-c is supplied for research as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder, with reconstitution and storage conditions that are vendor- and study-specific; no standardized human formulation exists [4]. ### Where is best to inject MOTS-c? The dominant route in published work is intraperitoneal injection in rodents [2]. There is no validated human injection site or protocol, so this is a description of research methodology rather than human guidance [4]. ### How often do you inject MOTS-c? There is no human dosing schedule. Published rodent studies used daily or thrice-weekly intraperitoneal injection — for example 15 mg/kg/day or 15 mg/kg three times weekly [2] — which is animal-model methodology, not human guidance [4]. ### Can I inject MOTS-c every day? Some rodent studies used daily intraperitoneal dosing [1][2], but there is no human dosing schedule and no clinical recommendation for frequency or duration of use [4]. ### How long should you take MOTS-c? No validated human duration exists. Published regimens range from roughly one week to several weeks in animals [1][2] and are study-specific methodology, not human protocols [4]. ## Why none of this is human dosing guidance The bridge from a rodent milligram-per-kilogram dose to a human one does not exist for MOTS-c. There is no published human bioavailability, no validated half-life, and no completed human efficacy or safety trial [4]. Allometric scaling of an unstudied peptide is not a substitute for clinical data, and an unapproved research chemical carries no standardized strength or purity [4]. For the regulatory framing of access, see the [FDA 503A compounding framework](/legal-status). --- A pixel-clean readout of the MOTS-c record — the AMPK mechanism, the aged-mouse data, and the biomarker thread logged to source and tagged confirmed, every missing human datum flagged in plain HUD caution, with no clinic behind the screen and nothing here dispensed or sold.