MOTS-c Reconstitution Calculator
MOTS-c has no human dosing data at all, and that is the first thing to say about it. No published study has ever given MOTS-c to a person. Every human MOTS-c paper measures the peptide the body already makes, as a biomarker of metabolic or cardiovascular state; every study that injects it is in mice, rats or cell culture. It is a 16-amino-acid peptide encoded inside the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene, it has never been approved for human use in any jurisdiction, and what is sold is a research chemical. One phase 2 trial in adults with prediabetes and overweight or obesity is recruiting (NCT07505745), and its registry record states no dose, so it does not supply one either. The calculator on this page converts a vial size and a mixing volume into mg/ml and U-100 syringe units. That is arithmetic about a vial, not a recommendation about what to inject.
Curated by Dosavy from published literature and regulator labels. Published 11 September 2026, last reviewed 11 September 2026. No clinician reviews this page.
No established human dose
No human trial has established a dose for MOTS-c. There is no evidence-based dose to give, and this page does not give one.
The calculator below converts a vial size and a mixing volume into a concentration. That is arithmetic about the vial, not a recommendation about what to inject.
Enter a target dose above to see the draw.
What the evidence says
MOTS-c has no human dosing data at all. The distinction that matters here is between measuring and administering, and the corpus splits cleanly along it. Of the 45 abstracts fetched, the human ones are observational or biomarker studies (serum MOTS-c in myocardial infarction, hemodialysis, PCOS, obstructive sleep apnoea, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, multiple myeloma, obesity) plus exercise studies showing that endogenous circulating MOTS-c rises after acute endurance exercise (PMID 34351816). None of them gives anyone MOTS-c. Every administration study is preclinical: cultured myotubes and tumour-bearing mice at 15 mg/kg twice daily intraperitoneally (PMID 42266945), diabetic rats at 15 mg/kg daily (PMID 40661667), and mouse pain models by intraperitoneal injection. Under the sourcing standard, animal work backs mechanism only and can never back a human dosing range. One phase 2 human trial is now recruiting in prediabetes and overweight/obesity (NCT07505745); its registry entry records the intervention as 'Drug: MOTS-c (MDP)' with no dose, so it does not yet supply one either. The community_practice figures below record what the market sells and are not evidence.
MOTS-c at a glance
- Category
- Longevity
- Half-life
- Not established
- Routes
- Subcutaneous
- Regulatory status
- Research use only
- Also sold as
- MOTS c, mots c, mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA-c, mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c
Mechanism
A 16-amino-acid peptide encoded by a short open reading frame within the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene, one of a small family of mitochondrial-derived peptides. In cell and rodent models it activates AMPK and raises PGC-1alpha, shifting substrate metabolism toward oxidative pathways and reproducing part of the signalling response to exercise; in cultured myotubes it increased PGC-1alpha mRNA and AMPK phosphorylation, and in rodent disease models it preserved skeletal muscle mass and restored mitochondrial respiration. Endogenous circulating MOTS-c also rises acutely in humans after endurance exercise, which is consistent with the exercise-mimetic framing, but that is the body's own peptide being measured, not injected peptide producing an effect. All administration evidence is preclinical.
Reconstitution
Supplied as a lyophilised powder requiring reconstitution before injection. No validated diluent, concentration or in-use stability period exists because no approved product exists.
Storage
Sold as a lyophilised powder by suppliers who publish no stability data. No approved product exists, so there is no manufacturer or regulatory storage specification.
Frequency in practice
No established regimen. No human has been given MOTS-c in a published study; the frequency listed commercially is disputed and spans once weekly to daily.
Regulatory
Never approved for human use in any jurisdiction. A phase 2 trial of MOTS-c in adults with prediabetes and overweight/obesity is recruiting (NCT07505745) but its registry record states no dose. Everything currently sold is a research chemical or a compounded preparation dispensed outside any approval pathway.
What to know before anything else
No published study has ever given MOTS-c to a human being. Every human MOTS-c paper measures the peptide the body already makes, as a biomarker of metabolic or cardiovascular state; every study that injects MOTS-c is in mice, rats or cell culture. There is no human safety data of any kind, not for a single dose, not at any amount.
COMMERCIAL LISTINGS DISAGREE SHARPLY. The per-injection amount is consistently given as 5-10 mg, but the stated frequency runs from once weekly to seven times weekly, so implied weekly totals span roughly 5 mg to 70 mg, a fourteen-fold spread with no evidence available to arbitrate it. Any specific protocol you have been given sits somewhere inside that spread for reasons nobody has published.
Animal studies dose in mg/kg: commonly 15 mg/kg per day intraperitoneally in mice (PMIDs 42266945, 40661667). Scaling that by body weight into a human figure is not a valid conversion, and it would produce numbers far above anything sold commercially.
Low circulating MOTS-c is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, coronary disease, sleep apnoea and several other conditions. Association is not causation, and a low biomarker is not evidence that injecting the peptide treats the condition.
A 2026 review of peptides marketed direct to patients covers MOTS-c explicitly and places it among the unapproved compounds where favourable animal results coexist with scarce human safety data and real potential for harm (PMID 41966639).
Not approved for human use. What is sold is a research chemical whose identity, purity and sterility are unverified by any regulator.
MOTS-c questions
Is there an established human dose for MOTS-c?
No, and the gap is not a matter of degree. The distinction that matters is between measuring and administering, and the MOTS-c literature splits cleanly along it: the human studies observe circulating MOTS-c as an outcome, and every study that administers the peptide is preclinical. There is no human safety data of any kind, not for a single dose and not at any amount, so there is no evidence-based figure for this page to give.
How does MOTS-c work?
MOTS-c is one of a small family of mitochondrial-derived peptides, encoded by a short open reading frame within the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene rather than by nuclear DNA. In cell and rodent models it activates AMPK and raises PGC-1alpha, shifting substrate metabolism toward oxidative pathways and reproducing part of the signalling response to exercise. Cultured myotubes showed increased PGC-1alpha mRNA and AMPK phosphorylation, and rodent disease models showed preserved skeletal muscle mass and restored mitochondrial respiration. That is a coherent mechanism, and every piece of the administration evidence behind it is preclinical.
What do the human MOTS-c studies actually measure?
Circulating MOTS-c, as an outcome rather than an input. The human corpus is observational and biomarker work: serum MOTS-c in myocardial infarction, haemodialysis, PCOS, obstructive sleep apnoea, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, multiple myeloma and obesity, plus exercise studies showing that endogenous circulating MOTS-c rises after acute endurance exercise (PMID 34351816). None of them gives anyone MOTS-c. Low circulating MOTS-c is associated with several of those conditions, but association is not causation, and a low biomarker is not evidence that injecting the peptide treats the condition. A 2026 review of peptides marketed direct to patients covers MOTS-c explicitly and places it among the unapproved compounds where favourable animal results coexist with scarce human safety data and real potential for harm (PMID 41966639). Dosavy's record carries no half-life for MOTS-c either: with no human administration study anywhere in the corpus, there is no human pharmacokinetic measurement to record.
Why do MOTS-c protocols disagree with each other?
Because nothing published can arbitrate between them. Commercial listings are consistent about the amount per injection but not about how often, and the stated frequency runs from once weekly to seven times weekly, so the implied weekly totals span roughly a fourteen-fold range. Any specific protocol you have been given sits somewhere inside that spread, for reasons nobody has published.
Is MOTS-c an exercise mimetic?
The framing rests on two separate observations, and neither one is an injected peptide doing what exercise does in a person. In cell and rodent models, MOTS-c reproduces part of the signalling response to exercise through AMPK and PGC-1alpha. Separately, endogenous circulating MOTS-c rises acutely in humans after endurance exercise, which is the body's own peptide being measured after exertion rather than injected peptide producing an effect.
How does MOTS-c compare with SS-31?
They are both spoken about as mitochondrial peptides and the resemblance stops roughly there. SS-31, or elamipretide, is a synthetic tetrapeptide that binds cardiolipin in the inner mitochondrial membrane, and in September 2025 it received US accelerated approval for one ultra-rare disorder, Barth syndrome. MOTS-c is encoded in mitochondrial DNA, is not approved anywhere, and has never been given to a human being in a published study. One of the two has a fixed dose that runs through an entire clinical programme; the other has none at all. Dosavy's SS-31 page covers what that programme did and did not show, including the trials it lost.
Is MOTS-c legal, and what is actually in the vial?
MOTS-c has never been approved for human use in any jurisdiction, so nothing sold under the name is an approved medicine. What is sold is a research chemical or a compounded preparation dispensed outside any approval pathway, and its identity, purity and sterility are unverified by any regulator. There is also no manufacturer or regulatory storage specification, because there is no approved product to write one: suppliers publish no stability data, so any shelf life, diluent or handling instruction printed on a vial is convention rather than anything that has been tested for this peptide.
The rest of the math
- Reconstitution calculatorThe full version of the tool above, with syringe barrel sizes and IU conversion.
- Vial longevityHow many doses a vial holds and the date it runs out.
- Cost per doseVial price against doses drawn, so two vial sizes can be compared honestly.
- Half-life and decayFirst-order clearance, time to steady state, and what remains at a given hour.
You worked out the draw. Now log this dose.
A calculator answers once and forgets. Dosavy keeps the concentration you mixed, the doses you actually took, and a reminder for the next one, with the same evidence labels you see on this page.