Plate IV / doses studied
Sermorelin doses, as they appear in the studies.
What was administered, to which population, by which route — in strict research framing. Nothing here is a dose to take.
Read this first
Everything below is a study dose — what researchers gave, to whom, by what route — not a recommendation. The numbers span a wide range because the populations did: micrograms per kilogram in children, half-milligram and milligram doses in older men, tiny intravenous doses in pharmacokinetic tests. 'mcg' means microgram (a thousandth of a milligram); 'subcutaneous' means injected under the skin; 'IV' means into a vein. This page reports sermorelin dosage as the literature recorded it, and stops there.
Sermorelin dosage in the research literature
Across the published work, sermorelin dosage was studied in clearly separated regimens by population and purpose:
- Pediatric GH-deficiency efficacy: 30 mcg/kg/day subcutaneous at bedtime, in the multicenter trial that accelerated linear growth in GH-deficient children [1].
- Aging research in older men: 0.5 mg and 1 mg subcutaneous twice daily for fourteen days, where the response was dose-related and the 1 mg dose produced the larger GH/IGF-1 effect [2].
- Pharmacokinetic / diagnostic: intravenous doses of 0.25-2 mcg/kg elicited GH release in healthy men, with maximal release at 1-2 mcg/kg [3]; a single intravenous bolus (commonly around 1 mcg/kg) was historically used as a GHRH stimulation test of pituitary GH reserve.
These are study doses tied to study populations. The digest reports them in 'studied at X in this population' form and makes no claim about what is appropriate for any individual.
Doses studied: from micrograms to milligrams
Research doses span a wide range by population: about 30 mcg/kg/day subcutaneous in the pediatric GH-deficiency trial [1], and 0.5 mg versus 1 mg twice daily in aging research, where the 1 mg dose produced the larger GH/IGF-1 response [2]. These are study doses, not a recommendation, and the right comparison is by population, not by a single number.
Routes studied
Three routes appear in the literature, with very different efficiency. Subcutaneous injection is the primary route used in the efficacy and aging studies [1][2]. Intravenous dosing appears in the diagnostic and pharmacokinetic work [3]. Intranasal administration was tested historically but is inefficient — bioavailability was only about 3-5% [3].
That low mucosal absorption is the research basis for a common caution: oral, sublingual, and troche 'sermorelin' formulations are widely criticized in research-user communities as poorly absorbed, because peptides are degraded in the gut and cross mucosa poorly — consistent with the ~3-5% intranasal figure [3].
Sermorelin half-life and pharmacokinetics
Sermorelin half-life is short — on the order of ten to twelve minutes in plasma after intravenous administration — and the peptide is rapidly eliminated, yet a single dose elevates serum GH for roughly three hours [3]. The mismatch between a minutes-long half-life and an hours-long GH effect is a recurring feature of the data: a brief pituitary stimulus produces a sustained downstream release. The native peptide's brevity is also what motivated the longer-acting analogs (D-Ala2 substitution and the DAC technology behind CJC-1295), the subject of sermorelin vs CJC-1295.
Study durations: days to months
Trial durations varied widely. Aging-research dosing ran fourteen days for the GH/IGF-1 endpoints [2]; the GHRH-analog cognition trial ran twenty weeks [6]; and the pediatric growth study reported first-year height-velocity outcomes over a year [1]. There is no established adult duration to recommend, and the digest does not propose one.
Is 3 months of sermorelin enough?
Trial durations varied widely: aging-research dosing ran 14 days for GH/IGF-1 endpoints [2], while the pediatric growth and cognition trials ran a year and twenty weeks respectively [1][6]. There is no established adult duration to recommend — 'enough' depends on an endpoint the adult anti-aging literature has not settled.
Is 500mcg daily sermorelin adequate, or should the dose be 1mg?
Research doses span a wide range by population: about 30 mcg/kg/day subcutaneous in the pediatric GH-deficiency trial [1], and 0.5 mg versus 1 mg twice daily in aging research, where the 1 mg dose produced the larger GH/IGF-1 response [2]. These are study doses, not a recommendation, and the comparison the question implies was studied in older men, not generalized.
Handling and stability, as described
Lyophilized (freeze-dried) sermorelin acetate is reconstituted with sterile diluent and, once reconstituted, is typically refrigerated. Aqueous peptide solutions are susceptible to degradation, which is why GHRH(1-29) is supplied as a lyophilized powder rather than a ready solution. Compounded preparations are prepared under USP <797> sterile-compounding standards. These are handling characteristics drawn from the research and compounding literature, recorded here as context — not as preparation instructions.