$ Dosage // research context
Sermorelin Dosage as It Appears in the Studies
What was administered, to which population, by which route — the pediatric and aging research doses, the routes studied, and the short half-life that shapes them. Described, never prescribed.
The short version
This page reports the sermorelin doses used in published studies — not a protocol to follow. In children who were not growing, the research dose was a small daily injection under the skin at bedtime. In aging research, older men received a low-milligram dose twice a day for two weeks. The peptide clears from the blood in about ten minutes, yet a single dose keeps growth hormone raised for roughly three hours. None of this is medical advice, and there is no established human anti-aging protocol.
Sermorelin Dosage in the Research Literature
Sermorelin dosage in the published record is best read as "studied at X in [population]," never as a personal recommendation. The figures below are what investigators administered.
- Pediatric GH-deficiency efficacy: 30 mcg/kg/day subcutaneous at bedtime, once daily, in prepubertal GH-deficient children — the regimen that raised first-year height velocity from ~4.1 to ~7-8 cm/year [1].
- Aging research in older men: 0.5 mg and 1 mg subcutaneous twice daily for 14 days, which produced dose-related increases in 24-hour GH and IGF-1 [2].
- Diagnostic GHRH stimulation: a single intravenous bolus (historically around 1 mcg/kg) used to probe pituitary GH reserve [7].
- Pharmacokinetic study: intravenous doses of 0.25-2 mcg/kg elicited GH release in healthy men, with maximal release at 1-2 mcg/kg [3].
These are research and historical-clinical doses. The research-grade sermorelin discussed here is supplied for laboratory research and is not a compounded prescription or finished drug; this site gives no human dosing instructions.
Sermorelin Half-Life and Pharmacokinetics
Sermorelin half-life is short: on the order of ~10-12 minutes after intravenous administration, with rapid elimination of the peptide [3]. The apparent paradox is that despite that brief plasma residence, a single dose elevates serum GH for roughly 3 hours — the receptor signal outlasts the molecule [3]. Routes matter sharply here: intranasal bioavailability was only about 3-5%, which is why oral, sublingual, and intranasal "sermorelin" products are widely criticized as inefficient [3].
The native peptide's brevity is precisely what motivated longer-acting analogues — the D-Ala2 substitution that resists enzymatic cleavage and the Drug Affinity Complex (DAC) technology behind CJC-1295, which binds albumin to extend stimulation for days [15]. That pharmacokinetic fork is the subject of sermorelin vs CJC-1295.
Routes and reconstitution in the research record
Three routes appear in the literature, with very different efficiency. Subcutaneous injection was the primary research route in both the pediatric and aging studies [1][2]. Intravenous administration appears in diagnostic and pharmacokinetic work [3][7]. Intranasal delivery was studied historically but reached only ~3-5% bioavailability [3].
On handling: lyophilized sermorelin acetate is reconstituted with a 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. In a compounding context, preparations are made under USP <797> sterile-compounding standards. These are stability and laboratory-handling notes, not preparation instructions for self-administration.