Dashnaiv Peptides
Compounds·neuropeptides nootropic·delta sleep-inducing peptide; receptor unidentified

DSIP peptide: what the 1980s sleep trials found, why no gene for it exists, and what the products people buy rest on

What 559 indexed publications and 7 randomized trials actually state about dsip, sentence by sentence, each tied to its source and labeled by the kind of evidence it is.

Human clinical trial Reviewed 38 sources Updated Also: Delta sleep inducing peptide, Delta sleep-inducing peptide, Emideltida

At a glance

Evidence availability
Human clinical evidence
Strongest tier in the indexed literature
Indexed publications
559
Europe PMC, title or abstract, 2026-09-14
Human studies in ledger
16
4 randomized; study count, not efficacy proof
Approval
not approved
ChEMBL phase 2
Routes reported
intranasal, intraperitoneal, intravenous, subcutaneous, transdermal
from studies in this ledger
Studied in
Humans, Mice, Rabbits, Rats
25 primary studies in the evidence table
Reviewed by Adam Mirando, PharmD, on . What changed

What DSIP is, and why its existence is disputed

DSIP is a peptide in the neuropeptides nootropic class (delta sleep-inducing peptide; receptor unidentified). Europe PMC indexes 559 publications naming it or a listed alias in a title or abstract, including 7 randomized controlled trials and 18 clinical trials of any design, as of . The strongest evidence tier in that literature is human clinical trials.

This page reports what those studies state, sentence by sentence, with each statement tied to its source and labeled by the kind of evidence it is. It does not recommend use, and it does not translate study doses into anything personal.

What the evidence level means

Publication counts show what is indexed, not how strong the evidence is. The ledger below separates human clinical records from preclinical, analytical, and in-vitro work.

Human clinical studies in this ledger164 randomized · 12 other human clinical
Evidence strengthNot yet assessedSeparate from evidence availability
Efficacy signalNot yet assessedRead the study result, not the tier alone

Interpretation boundary: An indexed publication count is a discovery measure. It does not establish efficacy, safety, approval, or a personal treatment plan.

DSIP in two minutes

What it is. A nine-amino-acid peptide isolated from sleeping rabbits in 1977 and named for the delta-wave sleep it induced in other rabbits. Synthesised and infused into small groups of people through the 1980s and 1990s, then largely abandoned.

What the research actually shows. 559 indexed publications and sixteen human studies in the ledger, all intravenous, none larger than 67 people. In healthy volunteers a morning infusion increased sleep by 59% within two hours. In chronic insomniacs, two placebo-controlled polysomnography trials found better sleep and two found no significant difference from placebo. A single dose lowered ACTH for three hours in one study; another found no effect on the stress axis.

The question nobody asks. No gene encoding DSIP has been found in any genome. Whether it is a natural hormone or an artefact of 1970s antibody methods is unresolved, and it is the main reason research stopped.

Status. Not approved anywhere; reported to be on FDA's 2023 compounding category 2 list; caught by WADA's S0 rule.

Where the evidence is thinnest. The products people buy. Every trial used slow intravenous infusion by body weight; no study has tested a subcutaneous injection or a nasal spray of DSIP in a controlled design.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

How it works

Written from general pharmacology and the development record, and marked as editorial synthesis; the measurements behind it are quoted in the biomarker section.

  • DSIP is the nonapeptide Trp-Ala-Gly-Gly-Asp-Ala-Ser-Gly-Glu, isolated in 1977 by Schoenenberger and Monnier in Basel from the cerebral venous blood of rabbits put into sleep by electrical stimulation of the thalamus. The name records that finding: infused into other rabbits, the fraction increased delta-wave sleep. It was synthesised soon after, and every human study used the synthetic peptide.Editorial synthesis
    Editorial synthesis from general knowledge
  • How it might act has never been settled. No receptor has been identified. Studies have proposed effects on GABA and glutamate signalling, on opioid receptors (the basis of the withdrawal study), on the stress axis (ACTH fell after a single dose in one study and did not respond to a CRH challenge in another) and on body temperature and circadian timing. The peptide is degraded in plasma within minutes, so its investigators assumed the hours-long sleep effects were downstream of a brief signal rather than a persisting drug level.Editorial synthesis
    Editorial synthesis from general knowledge
  • The unresolved question underneath all of this is whether DSIP is a natural hormone at all. Immunoreactive material has been measured in blood, milk and tissue, but no gene encoding the sequence has been found in any genome, including the human one, and the antibodies used cross-react with other proteins. Reviews since the 1990s have raised this; it is the reason the field went quiet, and no ranking page mentions it.Editorial synthesis
    Editorial synthesis from general knowledge

Trial by trial: what DSIP did to sleep, and what it did not

Every human study in the ledger. The placebo column is the one to read: half of the sleep trials found nothing against it.

Human studies of DSIP in the ledger, sleep trials first.
StudyParticipantsDose and scheduleDesignResult
Schneider-Helmert 19816 healthy volunteers25 nmol/kg IV, morningDouble-blind crossoverSleep +59% within 130 minutes; shorter, altered sleep the following night
Schneider-Helmert 19816 middle-aged chronic insomniacs25 nmol/kg IV, singlePlacebo-controlledLonger, less interrupted sleep; effect from the second hour, up to 6 hours; no daytime sedation
Schneider-Helmert 198714 middle-aged chronic insomniacsIV, 7 consecutive nightsPlacebo-controlled, double-blindNight sleep improved; daytime state and performance improved
Monti 1987Chronic insomniacs25 nmol/kg IV, 4 nightsDouble-blind crossoverAwakenings and latency fell but not significantly different from placebo
Bes 199216 chronic insomniacs25 nmol/kg IV, 3 afternoonsDouble-blind matched pairsHigher sleep efficiency and shorter sleep latency on polysomnography
Schneider-Helmert 1983Five studies pooledIV, single and repeatedReview of the group's trialsLatency about 1 hour, duration up to 20 hours; slow injection essential
Dick 198367 patients in alcohol or opiate withdrawal25 nmol/kg IV as sole treatmentUncontrolledBenefit reported in 48 of 49 evaluable patients; no comparison group
Bjartell 198911 healthy men25 nmol/kg IV, singleRandomized double-blind crossoverACTH lowered for at least 3 hours
Chiodera 19948 healthy men25 nmol/kg IV over 10 minutesControlled challenge testsDifferent effects on vasopressin and ACTH responses
Späth-Schwalbe 19955 per condition, healthy men3 and 4 mg IV over 2 hoursPlacebo-controlledNo effect on CRH- or meal-induced ACTH and cortisol
Pomfrett 2009Surgical patientsIV adjunct to isofluraneRandomizedHeart rate up, heart-rate variability down, paradoxical effect on anaesthetic depth
Kresiun 201415 patients with diabetic retinopathy (Russian)Deltalicin 0.3 mg/day intranasalUncontrolledVisual evoked potentials reported restored
Schulz 1994; Vgontzas 1995; Scholle 1992; Hegbrant 1991Volunteers, apnoea and narcolepsy patients, infants, dialysis patientsNone given; plasma DSIP measuredObservationalPlasma levels tracked rest, disease and age; not a marker of sleep disorders

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

What the evidence shows

One row per primary study in this record's ledger. Fields are read from each paper's indexing and abstract. "Analytical method" marks papers about detecting or measuring the compound rather than about its effects.

25 primary studies in this record's ledger, strongest evidence first. A dash means the abstract did not state the value.
StudyDesignnSpeciesDoseRouteDurationReported outcomeTier
Kresiun 2014 Clinical trial 15 Humans—intranasal— Treatment with deltalicin (daily dose of 0.0003 g of delta sleep-inducing peptide intranasally for two months) decreased the latent period and led to less pronounced depression of VEP amplitude in patients with… Human clinical trial
Pomfrett 2009 Randomized controlled trial — Humans—intravenous— DSIP significantly increased heart rate, decreased HRV and, paradoxically, significantly reduced delta rhythm along with reducing burst suppression and increasing BIS at 25 nmol kg(-1) during isoflurane anaesthesia. Human clinical trial
Späth-Schwalbe 1995 Clinical trial 5 Humans4 mgintravenous— — Human clinical trial
Schulz 1994 Clinical trial — Humans——— — Human clinical trial
Chiodera 1994 Randomized controlled trial 7 Humans——— The administration of DSIP or normal saline alone did not change the concentrations of circulating AVP. Human clinical trial
Bes 1992 Randomized controlled trial — Humans—intravenous— The results for objective sleep quality indicated higher sleep efficiency and shorter sleep latency with DSIP as compared to placebo. Human clinical trial
Bjartell 1989 Randomized controlled trial — Humans—intravenous39 years A significant reduction of ACTH-like immunoreactivity (ACTH-LI) in plasma was detected for at least 3 hr after the DSIP injection, compared to the control subjects, in whom a slightly elevated concentration of ACTH-LI… Human clinical trial
Schneider-Helmert 1987 Controlled clinical trial — Humans——— The treatment substantially improved night sleep with the first and additionally with repeated doses. Human clinical trial
Monti 1987 Controlled clinical trial — Humans—intravenous— For NREM sleep time and stage 2 sleep differences between DSIP and a placebo were significant, but the same differences existed already for the baseline values. Human clinical trial
Schneider-Helmert 1983 Controlled clinical trial — Humans—intravenous— During the active awake state, DSIP induced higher alertness and better performance. Human clinical trial
Schneider-Helmert 1981 Controlled clinical trial — Humans—intravenous— Delayed effects on subsequent night sleep were shorter sleep onset, reduced percentage of stage 1, and better sleep efficiency. Human clinical trial
Schneider-Helmert 1981 Clinical trial — Humans—intravenous— — Human clinical trial
Vgontzas 1995 Human study — Humans——— No differences were found in the morning or evening plasma DSIP-LI levels in a second group of 11 normal controls and 8 sleep apneics. Observational, human
Scholle 1992 Human study 28 Humans——— There was no age dependence of the plasma level of DSIP in the first year of life but there was an increase in the ratio of quiet/active sleep depending of maturity. Observational, human
Hegbrant 1991 Human study — Humans——— The plasma concentrations of DSIP, beta-END, m-ENK, beta-LPH, and alpha-MSH were increased. Observational, human
Dick 1983 Human study 67 Humans—intravenous— — Observational, human
Mu 2024 Animal study — Mice——— Pichia pastoris -secreted delta sleep inducing peptide and crossing the blood-brain barrier peptides (DSIP-CBBBP) fusion peptides holds significant promise for its potential sleep-enhancing and neurotransmitter… Animal, preclinical
Tukhovskaya 2021 Animal study — Rats—intranasal8 days Although brain infarction in DSIP-treated animals was smaller than in vehicle-treated animals, the difference was not significant. Animal, preclinical
Voĭtenkov 2009 Animal study — Mice—subcutaneous5 days — Animal, preclinical
Stanojlović 2007 Animal study — Rats1.0 mg/kgintraperitoneal— In EEGs of metaphit-treated animals polyspikes, spike-wave complexes and sleep-like patterns were recorded, while the power spectra were increased. Animal, preclinical
Konorova 2006 Animal study — Rats——— Deltaran decreased the mortality rate (by 62%) and alleviated the symptoms of cerebral ischemia. Animal, preclinical
Dovedova 2005 Animal study — Rats——— — Animal, preclinical
Popovich 2003 Animal study 54 Mice—subcutaneous— The results of this study show that the treatment with Deltaran did not influence food consumption, but decreased the body weight of mice; it slowed down the age-related switching-off of estrous function; it decreased… Animal, preclinical
Shustanova 2003 Animal study — Rats——— The anti-stress effect of DSIP is directed as on increase of power endogenic enzymatic antioxidant system activity, specially glutathione peroxidase activity, and not enzymatic of antioxidant protection. Animal, preclinical
Chiang 1998 Animal study — Rabbits—transdermal— By using 0.2 mM o-phenanthroline in the iontophoretic delivery of DSIP at pH 4, we were able to significantly enhance the penetration of DSIP. Animal, preclinical

Doses reported in studies

Each entry is a sentence quoted from the study's abstract, with the study's design, sample size and year in front of it. Comparator doses in the same sentence are not attributed to dsip.

  • Every controlled sleep trial infused 25 nanomoles per kilogram of body weight intravenously, about 21 micrograms per kilogram or roughly 1.5 mg for a 70 kg adult.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-3583493
  • Sixteen chronic insomniacs received 25 nmol/kg intravenously in the afternoon before three consecutive nights.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-1299794
  • Total intravenous doses of 3 and 4 mg were infused over two hours around a CRH challenge in healthy young men.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-7777652
  • In withdrawal patients, 25 nmol/kg was injected intravenously as the sole treatment.Observational, human
    Source pmid-6328354
  • A Russian DSIP preparation, deltalicin, was given intranasally at 0.3 mg a day to patients with diabetic retinopathy.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-25739189

Every DSIP dose in the literature, in one table

Every figure here was infused intravenously by body weight or given as a Russian nasal preparation. No subcutaneous dose has ever been studied.

Doses of DSIP administered in studies.
RouteDoseSchedulePopulationSource
Intravenous, slow25 nmol/kg (about 21 mcg/kg; roughly 1.5 mg for 70 kg)Single, or nightly for 3 to 7 nightsHealthy volunteers; chronic insomniacs; withdrawal patientsSchneider-Helmert 1981 to 1987; Monti 1987; Bes 1992; Dick 1983; Bjartell 1989; Chiodera 1994
Intravenous infusion3 mg and 4 mg total over 2 hoursSingleHealthy young men, CRH challengeSpäth-Schwalbe 1995
IntravenousDose not stated in the abstractSingle, during anaesthesiaSurgical patientsPomfrett 2009
Intranasal (deltalicin, a DSIP preparation)0.3 mgDailyDiabetic retinopathy, RussiaKresiun 2014
Intravenous, animals5 mg/kg for 6 days; 1.0 mg/kgRepeatedRats, rabbits, dogs, catsToxicology 1983; seizure model 2007

Figures for this compound circulate on forums and vendor pages. None has been tested in a human study by the routes people use, so none is reproduced here; the table holds every dose a study actually administered. The conversion in the first row is arithmetic on the study dose (molecular weight about 849), not a recommendation, and it describes an intravenous infusion given in a sleep laboratory.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Side effects: what the trials recorded

The trials called tolerability good and insisted on slow injection. Frequencies were not reported in the abstracts; one anaesthesia study found a paradoxical effect. Events and their frequency as each study reported them, with the denominator where the abstract gives one.

  • The early investigators reported good tolerability and found that slow injection was essential.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-6689058
  • In six insomniacs there was no daytime sedation or other side effect.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-7028502
  • Given as an adjunct to isoflurane anaesthesia, DSIP raised heart rate, lowered heart-rate variability and had a paradoxical effect on the depth-of-anaesthesia index.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-19142086
  • No trial reported adverse-event frequencies in its abstract, and no study has given DSIP subcutaneously or nasally under controlled conditions, so the safety of the products people buy is unmeasured. The withdrawal study's claim of benefit in 48 of 49 patients had no control group.Editorial synthesis
    Editorial synthesis from general knowledge

Who DSIP is discussed for, and the cautions that recur

Studied: healthy volunteers, middle-aged chronic insomniacs, people in alcohol or opiate withdrawal, surgical patients under anaesthesia, and Russian patients with diabetic retinopathy. Never studied by the routes people use: anyone taking it subcutaneously or as a nasal spray. Community: people with insomnia, shift workers, and people using it for stress or pain.

No trial published exclusion criteria in its abstract. The cautions below come from what the studies found and from what was never measured:

  • Heart rate and anaesthesia. The one modern trial found DSIP raised heart rate and reduced heart-rate variability during anaesthesia, with a paradoxical effect on depth. Anyone facing surgery has a reason to tell the anaesthetist.
  • Stress hormones. One study found ACTH suppressed for hours; another found no effect. People on corticosteroids or with adrenal disease are in territory no study covered.
  • Sedatives and alcohol. No interaction study exists; the withdrawal study gave DSIP alone.
  • Injection speed. The early investigators called slow infusion essential and did not say what fast injection did; a subcutaneous bolus is neither.
  • Product identity. Because the peptide degrades in minutes and no gene exists to reference, there is no clinical assay to confirm what a vial contains.
  • Tested athletes. Unapproved substances are prohibited under WADA S0 at all times.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Biomarkers measured in studies

Laboratory and clinical measures the studies report tracking, including which hormones did and did not change.

  • Randomized controlled trial humans 2009 Human clinical trial
    The aims were to assess depth of anaesthesia using bispectral index (BIS), the EEG and heart rate variability (HRV), and to determine whether DSIP altered the symmetry of EEG between the left and right cerebral hemispheres.
    Source pmid-19142086 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Clinical trial humans n = 5 1995 Human clinical trial
    We examined, first, the influence of DSIP on ACTH and cortisol release following stimulation with human corticotropin-releasing hormone (h-CRH; 1.0 microgram/kg body weight, and 0.5 microgram/kg body weight, respectively) in healthy young men (n = 5 in each condition).
    Source pmid-7777652 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Clinical trial humans 1994 Human clinical trial
    Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), cortisol, melatonin, prolactin, luteinizing hormone (LH), delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP), its phosphorylated form (P-DSIP), heart rate, and body temperature were measured every half hour during two 24-h periods in five normal men. tau-Amino-butyric acid (GABA) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) were measured less frequently.
    Source pmid-7895296 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Randomized controlled trial humans 1992 Human clinical trial
    In the afternoon before the 3rd, 4th and 5th night, half of the patients received intravenously 25 nmol/kg body weight DSIP, and half of the patients a glucose solution (placebo).
    Source pmid-1299794 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Randomized controlled trial humans 1989 Human clinical trial
    Eleven healthy male volunteers, ages 25-39 years, received a single dose of synthetic delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) (25 nmol/kg BW) or saline intravenously in a randomized cross-over, double-blind study.
    Source pmid-2554357 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Clinical trial humans 1981 Human clinical trial
    The study corroborates the findings of previous investigations in healthy subjects and shows that DSIP has a normalizing influence on human sleep regulation.
    Source pmid-7028502 · quoted verbatim from the abstract

Reported timelines

Onset, peak and duration figures as each study reported them.

  • Across five early studies, sleep induction began about an hour after infusion and the effect lasted up to 20 hours.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-6689058
  • In six healthy volunteers infused in the morning, sleep pressure was reported at once and total sleep rose 59% within 130 minutes.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-6895513
  • In insomniacs the sleep-promoting effect appeared only in the second hour, after a slight arousing effect in the first, and lasted up to six hours of night sleep.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-7028502
  • ACTH fell for at least three hours after a single injection in healthy men.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-2554357
  • Human study humans n = 67 1983 Observational, human
    From the 49 evaluable patients, DSIP produced a beneficial effect in 48 (22 alcoholics and 26 from 27 opiate addicts), with an immediate onset of action, a good and lasting suspension of the somatic symptoms and signs.
    Source pmid-6328354 · quoted verbatim from the abstract

What is measured over time, and what is not

The early trials described the time course carefully. Sleep induction began about one hour after a slow infusion, after a slight arousing effect in the first hour; in healthy volunteers total sleep rose within 130 minutes; effects were seen for up to six hours of night sleep and, by the investigators' pooled account, up to 20 hours. ACTH stayed lowered for at least three hours after one dose. The longest course was seven nights, with one post-treatment night recorded and daytime performance tested. Nothing was measured beyond that, and nothing at all was measured for the subcutaneous or nasal routes, so 'how long does it take to kick in' has an answer only for an intravenous infusion in a laboratory.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Study durations

Treatment and follow-up periods as stated in each abstract.

  • Seven consecutive nights of infusion, with polysomnography at baseline, start, end and one post-treatment night.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-3622582
  • Four nights, crossover.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-3583493
  • Three treatment nights after two laboratory nights of adaptation and baseline.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-1299794
  • A single dose, with plasma sampled for hours afterwards.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-2554357
  • Animal study rats 2021 Animal, preclinical
    Durations stated: 8 days
    Background and Objectives : Mutual effect of the preliminary and therapeutic intranasal treatment of SD rats with DSIP (8 days) on the outcome of focal stroke, induced with intraluminal middle cerebral occlusion (MCAO), was investigated.
    Source pmid-34500605 · quoted verbatim from the abstract, emphasis added
  • Animal study mice 2009 Animal, preclinical
    Durations stated: 5 days
    Female SHR mice received 5-days long monthly courses of delta-sleep inducing peptide (DSIP) preparation "Deltaran" subcutaneously in dose 5 mkg/kg during all their lives.
    Source pmid-20405733 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Animal study rats, rabbits, dogs, cats 1983 Animal, preclinical
    Durations stated: 6 day
    Results of 6-day consecutive intravenous administration (50 microgram/kg) indicate that there is no obvious sign of adaptation to DSIP.
    Source pmid-6857232 · quoted verbatim from the abstract

Routes: what the studies used, and what people buy

Intravenous infusion in every controlled human trial; intranasal in one Russian study of a DSIP preparation. No study has injected it subcutaneously. Routes of administration named in each study.

  • Clinical trial humans n = 15 2014 Human clinical trial
    administration by intranasal route reported
    Treatment with deltalicin (daily dose of 0.0003 g of delta sleep-inducing peptide intranasally for two months) decreased the latent period and led to less pronounced depression of VEP amplitude in patients with diabetic retinopathy, and reduced the period of restoration of VEP characteristics to 95.1 ± 6.8 s.
    Source pmid-25739189 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Randomized controlled trial humans 2009 Human clinical trial
    administration by intravenous route reported
    The other 12 were randomly allocated to receive one of three intravenous bolus doses of DSIP (Clinalfa) at 25, 50 or 100 nmol kg(-1).
    Source pmid-19142086 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Clinical trial humans n = 5 1995 Human clinical trial
    administration by intravenous route reported
    DSIP (total doses of 3 and 4 mg, respectively, vs. placebo) was infused intravenously between 30 min prior to and 90 min after CRH injections.
    Source pmid-7777652 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Randomized controlled trial humans 1992 Human clinical trial
    administration by intravenous route reported
    In the afternoon before the 3rd, 4th and 5th night, half of the patients received intravenously 25 nmol/kg body weight DSIP, and half of the patients a glucose solution (placebo).
    Source pmid-1299794 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Randomized controlled trial humans 1989 Human clinical trial
    administration by intravenous route reported
    Eleven healthy male volunteers, ages 25-39 years, received a single dose of synthetic delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) (25 nmol/kg BW) or saline intravenously in a randomized cross-over, double-blind study.
    Source pmid-2554357 · quoted verbatim from the abstract
  • Controlled clinical trial humans 1987 Human clinical trial
    administration by intravenous route reported
    DSIP in a dose of 25 nmol/kg or a placebo was administered i.v. during four nights using a double-blind crossover design.
    Source pmid-3583493 · quoted verbatim from the abstract

Weight-normalized doses, as published

Per-kilogram figures exactly as each study published them, for the species it studied.

  • 25 nmol/kg intravenous, the dose in every controlled sleep trial and the hormone studies.Human clinical trial
    Source pmid-7698722
  • Animal study rats 2007 Animal, preclinical
    Weight-normalized doses as published: 1.0 mg/kg
    For the purpose of the study, valproate in the doses of 50 or 75 mg/kg and DSIP (1.0 mg/kg) was i.p. injected either alone or in combination to adult Wistar male rats with fully developed metaphit seizures after eight audiogenic testing.
    Source pmid-17957464 · quoted verbatim from the abstract, emphasis added

Weight-normalized figures above are reproduced exactly as each study published them, for the species it studied. Dose does not scale linearly with body mass between species: metabolic rate, clearance and receptor density differ, and regulatory guidance uses allometric, not proportional, conversion. A mg/kg figure from a rat study is a fact about that rat study and nothing else.

What people report outside the literature

Forum reports are experiences, not evidence. The products people describe, subcutaneous or nasal, have never been tested in a controlled study. What circulates in user communities and clinic marketing, reported so a reader knows the figures and their origin. None of it has been tested in a trial, and none of it is a suggestion.

  • DSIP circulates as a sleep aid, injected subcutaneously before bed or sprayed intranasally, often alongside Epitalon or Pinealon, and is discussed for stress, pain and withdrawal. Reports describe deeper or more vivid sleep, grogginess, headache and, often, no effect; the most common thread is uncertainty about whether the product contains the peptide. None of this comes from a controlled study of those routes, which have never been tested. Figures for this compound circulate on forums and vendor pages. None has been tested in a human study by the routes people use, so none is reproduced here; the table above holds every dose a study actually administered.Editorial synthesis
    Editorial synthesis from general knowledge
Method note · shared across compounds

Reconstitution mathematics

Lyophilised peptide is supplied as a mass in a vial and dissolved in a stated volume of diluent. Two figures follow from that and nothing else:

  • Concentration = mass in vial ÷ diluent volume. A 5 mg vial in 2 mL is 2.5 mg/mL, or 2,500 mcg/mL.
  • Volume for a given mass = that mass ÷ concentration. 250 mcg at 2,500 mcg/mL is 0.1 mL. On a U-100 insulin syringe, where 1 mL is 100 units, that is 10 units.

Study doses on this page are quoted as published, in the units the authors used. Converting between mcg, mg and IU, or between a mass and a syringe volume, is arithmetic; deciding a mass is not, and this page does not do it. The reconstitution calculator performs the conversion with the formula shown.

Method note · shared across compounds

Reading a certificate of analysis

A certificate of analysis is a laboratory report on one batch. Reading it means checking four things in order.

  1. Identity. Mass spectrometry should report an observed molecular mass matching the peptide's theoretical mass within the instrument's stated tolerance. A certificate with no mass spectrometry, or one that lists only the expected value, has not confirmed identity.
  2. Purity. HPLC purity is the area of the main peak as a share of all peaks, at a stated wavelength. It says nothing about what the other peaks are, and it is not a measure of quantity.
  3. Quantity. Net peptide content, by amino acid analysis or UV, is the fraction of the vial's mass that is peptide rather than counter-ions and water. A 5 mg vial at 80% net content holds 4 mg of peptide, and every concentration figure above changes accordingly.
  4. Provenance. The batch number on the certificate should match the vial, the laboratory should be named and independent of the seller, and the test date should be recent.

This page rates no supplier and links to none. It describes how to read the document.

Method note · shared across compounds

Equipment described in studies

Published human studies of injectable peptides report the same small set of materials: single-use insulin syringes with fixed needles, most often U-100 with 29 to 31 gauge needles; bacteriostatic water or sterile water for injection as diluent, with the choice stated in the methods; alcohol swabs; and refrigerated storage of reconstituted solution. Animal studies more often report intraperitoneal or intragastric administration and state the vehicle used. Where a study in this record's ledger names its materials or vehicle, that sentence appears under storage or routes above; where it does not, nothing is assumed here.

Storage and handling

No storage or stability study of DSIP for human use is indexed. A 1987 plasma study found the peptide degrades and aggregates rapidly, which is a property of the molecule rather than a storage instruction. Vendor sheets follow general practice for lyophilised peptides; nothing DSIP-specific has been published.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Common mistakes in how DSIP is discussed

  1. Assuming it is a natural hormone. No gene for it has been found. The name and the immunoassays are from the 1970s; the doubt is from the 1990s and has not been resolved.
  2. Quoting a subcutaneous dose. Every controlled trial infused it slowly into a vein by body weight. No subcutaneous or nasal DSIP has been tested against placebo.
  3. Counting the sleep trials as consistent. Two placebo-controlled polysomnography trials found improvement; two found no significant difference. Both facts belong together.
  4. Citing the withdrawal study as proof. Sixty-seven patients, no control group, and a quarter lost to evaluation.
  5. Treating 'delta sleep' as measured deep sleep in people. The delta-wave finding was in rabbits; the human trials measured sleep efficiency, latency and awakenings, and one found more REM.
  6. Pairing it with Epitalon as tested. No study has combined DSIP with any other peptide in people.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

DSIP vs melatonin, Epitalon, Pinealon and the Russian nootropic peptides

DSIP beside the compounds it is compared with for sleep, from their own records where one exists.
CompoundWhat it isHuman sleep evidenceStatus
DSIPNonapeptide of disputed endogenous origin; receptor unknownFour small IV polysomnography trials, split two to twoNot approved; research chemical; Russian preparation exists
MelatoninThe pineal hormone of darkness, on its own receptorsDozens of randomized trials; modest effects on sleep latencyPrescription medicine in the EU and UK; supplement in the US; no record on this site
EpitalonPineal-derived tetrapeptide bioregulator; 170 indexed publications5 randomized trials; 9 human studies in its ledger; no polysomnography trialNot approved; research chemical
PinealonPineal-derived tripeptide bioregulator; 17 indexed publicationsNo human sleep studySupplement in Russia; research chemical elsewhere
Selank and SemaxRussian nootropic peptides in this site's class; 96 and 208 indexed publications8 and 8 human studies in their ledgers; anxiety and cognition, not sleepRegistered medicines in Russia; not approved elsewhere

Of everything DSIP is compared with, only melatonin has randomized sleep trials of any size. The pairing with Epitalon that vendors sell has no study behind it in people.

Editorial synthesis Written from general pharmacology, the development record and what is commonly reported; not a cited finding. Cited findings on this page carry their own tier.

Other compounds in its class

Same class in the registry: Selank, Semax. Each row shows what that compound's own record states; nothing is inferred across rows.

3 compounds in the neuropeptides nootropic class. Each row states what that compound's own record says; nothing is inferred across rows.
CompoundTierPublicationsRCTsRecord
DSIP Human clinical trial 559 7 draft
Selank Human clinical trial 96 2 draft
Semax Human clinical trial 208 1 draft

Regulatory status: not approved, and named in FDA's 2023 compounding action

Registry facts only. Jurisdiction-level status, compounding categories and sport prohibitions need their own cited documents before they appear here.

  • Not approved anywhere. In the United States it is sold as a research chemical; FDA is reported to have placed it, under the name Emideltide, in category 2 of the interim 503A bulk-substances list in September 2023, which bars compounding; the live list should be checked and the notice is not in the ledger. A DSIP preparation, Deltaran, is marketed in Russia and appears in Russian studies; its regulatory standing there is undocumented here. DSIP is not named on the WADA Prohibited List, but as an unapproved substance it falls under S0 at all times.Editorial synthesis
    Editorial synthesis from general knowledge · primary document to be added to the ledger

Open questions and limitations

What is genuinely unknown, stated plainly. A missing field is not evidence that the outcome is safe, effective, or established.

  • Whether DSIP is encoded in any genome, and therefore whether it is an endogenous peptide, is unresolved and no source in the ledger settles it.
  • No controlled study has tested subcutaneous or intranasal DSIP for sleep.
  • FDA's 2023 compounding notice naming Emideltide and Deltaran's Russian registration are not in the ledger.

Questions people ask

What is DSIP?

Delta sleep-inducing peptide is a nine-amino-acid peptide isolated in 1977 from the blood of rabbits in induced sleep by Schoenenberger and Monnier in Basel. It was infused intravenously into small groups of volunteers and insomniacs in the 1980s and 1990s with mixed results, and it has never been approved anywhere. No gene encoding it has been found in any genome, so whether it is a natural hormone at all is unresolved.

What is the half-life of DSIP?

Minutes. A 1987 study in rat and dog plasma found injected DSIP disappeared rapidly through enzymatic degradation, and the human trials describe a sleep-promoting latency of about an hour with effects lasting hours to a day, which the investigators attributed to downstream changes rather than the peptide persisting. No human pharmacokinetic figure is stated in any abstract in the ledger.

How often was DSIP given in the studies?

Once a day by slow intravenous infusion, for one to seven consecutive nights in the insomnia trials, and as a single infusion in the hormone studies. The intranasal Russian preparation was given daily. No study has used repeated subcutaneous injection, which is how the product circulates, so there is no studied frequency for it.

What is Deltaran?

A Russian preparation containing DSIP, given intranasally, that appears in Russian-language studies of alcohol withdrawal, stress, ageing markers and children recovering from chemotherapy. Its regulatory standing in Russia is not documented in the ledger; it has no approval outside Russia.

Has DSIP been tested in humans?

Yes, in sixteen studies in the ledger, all from 1981 to 2014 and all intravenous apart from one Russian intranasal study. The sleep trials enrolled six to sixteen people each; the largest study, 67 patients in withdrawal, had no control group. No trial has tested the subcutaneous or nasal products sold today.

Does DSIP work for sleep?

The evidence is split. In healthy volunteers a morning infusion increased sleep by 59% within two hours. In chronic insomniacs, two placebo-controlled polysomnography trials found better sleep efficiency and shorter latency, and two found changes that were not significantly different from placebo. Nothing has been tested by the routes people use.

Is there a DSIP dose?

For intravenous infusion in a sleep laboratory, the trials used 25 nanomoles per kilogram, about 21 micrograms per kilogram, given slowly; one hormone study used 3 and 4 mg over two hours. No subcutaneous or nasal dose has been studied, so the figures on vendor pages have no trial behind them.

What are the side effects of DSIP?

The early investigators reported good tolerability with slow infusion and no daytime sedation, but published no frequencies. The one modern trial found DSIP raised heart rate and lowered heart-rate variability during anaesthesia. Nothing is known about subcutaneous or nasal use.

Is DSIP a real hormone?

Unresolved. Immunoreactive DSIP has been measured in blood and tissue since the 1970s, but no gene encoding the sequence has been found in any genome, and the antibodies used cross-react with other proteins. That doubt, raised in the 1990s, is the main reason research stopped.

Is DSIP FDA approved?

No. It has never been approved anywhere. It is reported to have been placed in category 2 of FDA's interim 503A bulk-substances list in September 2023 under the name Emideltide, which bars compounding; check the live list.

Can DSIP be taken as a nasal spray?

One Russian study gave a DSIP preparation, deltalicin, intranasally at 0.3 mg a day to patients with diabetic retinopathy and measured visual evoked potentials, without a control group. No nasal DSIP has been tested for sleep, and no study has measured whether it reaches the brain by that route.

What is Deltaran?

A Russian preparation containing DSIP, given intranasally, that appears in Russian-language studies of alcohol withdrawal, stress, biomarkers of ageing in mice and children after chemotherapy. Its regulatory standing in Russia is not documented in the ledger, and it has no approval elsewhere.

Does DSIP affect cortisol or stress hormones?

Inconsistently. A single intravenous dose lowered ACTH for at least three hours in eleven healthy men, and altered vasopressin and ACTH responses to challenge in another study, but a 1995 trial found no effect on ACTH or cortisol released by CRH or a meal.

How long does DSIP take to work?

In the intravenous trials, about an hour, after a slight arousing effect in the first hour; sleep increased within 130 minutes in healthy volunteers and the effect lasted up to six hours of night sleep, with the investigators' pooled account extending to 20 hours. No timing data exist for injection under the skin or nasal spray.

Is DSIP banned in sport?

It is not named on the WADA Prohibited List, but as a substance with no approval from any regulator it falls under the list's S0 category, prohibited at all times.

Which species has DSIP been studied in?

Rabbits, where it was discovered; rats, mice, dogs and cats in pharmacology and toxicology; and humans in sixteen studies. Plasma DSIP has also been measured in infants and dialysis patients as a possible marker, without success.

Sources

Full citations. Every claim above links to one of these by its id.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
    Peptides and the blood-brain barrier.
    pmid-25805003 · · peer-reviewed
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
Show the remaining 26 sources
  1. 13
    Biochemical regulation of non-rapid-eye-movement sleep.
    pmid-12700031 · · peer-reviewed
  2. 14
  3. 15
  4. 16
    Neuropeptides and human sleep.
    pmid-9456470 · · peer-reviewed
  5. 17
  6. 18
  7. 19
  8. 20
  9. 21
  10. 22
  11. 23
  12. 24
  13. 25
  14. 26
  15. 27
  16. 28
  17. 29
  18. 30
    Delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP): an update.
    pmid-3550726 · · peer-reviewed
  19. 31
  20. 32
    Fibrinopeptide A binds Gly-Pro-Arg-Pro.
    pmid-6589598 · · peer-reviewed
  21. 33
    Minireview. Peptides and the blood-brain barrier.
    pmid-6304442 · · peer-reviewed
  22. 34
  23. 35
  24. 36
  25. 37
  26. 38

Reference card

Reference card · generated /compounds/dsip
Compound
DSIP, neuropeptides nootropic
Evidence tier
Human clinical trial
Indexed publications
559 · 7 RCTs · 18 other clinical trials
Approval
not approved · max phase 2
Routes reported
intranasal, intraperitoneal, intravenous, subcutaneous, transdermal
Reviewed
Adam Mirando, PharmD,

Study figures are as published in each source and are not recommendations. Print or save this card with its date.

Last reviewed and what changed

Newest first. These are the record's own revision dates, and the same dates feed the sitemap.

  1. · Reviewed by Adam Mirando, PharmD, on 2026-09-25.
  2. · Written under the sequencing rule after research/intents/dsip.json: guide (8 sections incl. a table of all sixteen human studies), FAQ to 12 plus 5 from the map, hand-written dose, duration, timeline and adverse-event claims from the abstracts (the drafter had read participant ages as a 39-year duration), mechanism including the gene question, reported-use, regulatory; intent-driven H1 and title.
  3. · Claims drafted extractively from 38 ledger sources by scripts/draft_claims.py: 28 claims, 25 evidence-table rows. Status researched -> draft.
  4. · Claims drafted extractively from 38 ledger sources by scripts/draft_claims.py: 35 claims, 25 evidence-table rows. Status researched -> draft.
  5. · Claims drafted extractively from 38 ledger sources by scripts/draft_claims.py: 35 claims, 25 evidence-table rows. Status researched -> draft.
  6. · Metadata refreshed by scripts/fetch_evidence.py --refresh-meta: tier animal-preclinical -> human-clinical-trial.
  7. · Evidence fetched from Europe PMC and ChEMBL by scripts/fetch_evidence.py; claims not yet written.