What MOTS-c is
MOTS-c is a 16-amino-acid peptide encoded inside the mitochondrial genome, studied for exercise-mimetic and metabolic effects. The animal literature is interesting and the human literature is nearly empty: one small trial exists. It is a research compound in the fullest sense, and community dosing (5 to 10 mg weekly) is convention, not evidence.
What we do not know
- No randomized controlled trial of administered MOTS-c in humans has been published. Human work is observational association between endogenous levels and fitness or metabolic health.
- Whether raising levels by injection reproduces what higher endogenous levels correlate with is untested.
- No human pharmacokinetics or dosing basis exists.
Reconstitution math
Concentration is everything: the same 10 mg vial gives a different draw for every amount of bacteriostatic water you add. The table uses the common 2 mL setup for each vial size, which puts every unit on a U-100 insulin syringe at 50 mcg for the default vial. Dashes mark draws too small to measure or larger than the syringe.
| Vial | BAC water | Concentration | 5 mg | 10 mg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 mg | 2 mL | 2.5 mg/mL | - | - |
| 10 mg | 2 mL | 5 mg/mL | 100 u | - |
Dosing and protocol
Community protocol: about 5 to 10 mg per week, often split into two or three injections.
Typical community use is 5 to 10 mg per week, either as one injection or split. On a 10 mg vial with 2 mL of water, a 5 mg dose is a full 1 mL draw; users who prefer smaller volumes reconstitute with less water.
Pharmacokinetics
No curve is shown, on purpose.
MOTS-c has a single small human trial (in obese men, IV dosing) and no subcutaneous pharmacokinetic data. Its signaling role inside cells is not captured by a plasma curve, so none is shown.
How it is thought to work
A peptide encoded in mitochondrial DNA rather than the nuclear genome. It appears to act on AMPK and metabolic homeostasis, and circulating levels rise with exercise, which is the basis for interest in it as an exercise mimetic.
What the evidence supports
This table grades how well each outcome has been studied in humans, not how well MOTS-c works. A strong grade means the question was asked properly, and the answer may still have been negative. Nothing here is inherited from a drug class, a close analog, or the parent molecule of a fragment.
| Outcome | Strongest published evidence |
|---|---|
| Endogenous levels correlate with fitness | Human, observational |
| Exercise capacity | Animal only |
| Metabolic homeostasis | Animal only |
| Any outcome from administration in humans | No data |
Storage and handling
Lyophilized vials keep best cold, dark, and dry; refrigeration is the community default and freezing lyophilized powder is common for long holds. After reconstitution, refrigerate at 2 to 8 C, do not freeze the solution, and date the vial. Bacteriostatic water's preservative keeps multi-dose use practical for about 28 days by USP convention, though our 120-day stability study found the preservative itself outlasts that window.
Got a certificate of analysis with your vial? Run it through our COA Reader: it reads the report in plain English, checks purity and mass against the label claim, and links the testing lab’s own verification page. Our guide to reading a COA explains what the numbers do and do not tell you.
Sources
- Lee et al., The mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c promotes metabolic homeostasis, Cell Metab 2015PMID 25738459 · DOI
- Reynolds et al., MOTS-c is an exercise-induced mitochondrial-encoded regulator, Nat Commun 2021