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Kisspeptin-10

Also known as Kisspeptin-10, KP-10, Metastin 45-54, Kisspeptin-112-121

Decapeptide that drives GnRH release via the KISS1R receptor and can thereby raise LH and testosterone.

early-clinical Hormonal & sexual research chemical

At a glance

Category
Hormonal & sexual
Status
research chemical
Route
intravenous or subcutaneous (in studies), mainly as an infusion or bolus
Half-life
approximately 4 minutes (human, intravenous)
Onset
LH peaked at 30 minutes after an intravenous bolus in healthy men 1
Molecular weight
approximately 1302 g/mol
Sequence
YNWNSFGLRF-NH2

Not registered as a medicine anywhere in the world. Used solely in academic research, notably at Imperial College London, and sold as a 'research chemical' without pharmaceutical quality control.

Doping status: Not listed by WADA

Checked against the WADA 2026 Prohibited List. For a specific product and country, Global DRO is the lookup athletes are expected to use — the List names substances, not brand names.

Mechanism of action

Kisspeptin-10 is the shortest active fragment of the KISS1 gene product. It binds the G protein-coupled receptor KISS1R (formerly GPR54) on GnRH neurons in the hypothalamus.

Activation of KISS1R stimulates the pulsatile release of GnRH, which through the pituitary leads to release of LH and, to a lesser extent, FSH, and thereby to a rise in testosterone or oestradiol. Kisspeptin thus sits upstream of GnRH and is regarded as the main switch that starts puberty and the reproductive axis; inactivating mutations in KISS1R cause hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.

The extremely short half-life is the central practical problem: after a single bolus the effect has worn off within a few hours. Continuous infusion also produces partial desensitisation of the receptor. The longer kisspeptin-54 has a more favourable pharmacokinetic profile and is used more often in clinical research.

What the research shows

Human studies do exist, but they are small physiological and diagnostic investigations in healthy volunteers and in patients with fertility problems, not randomised treatment trials with clinical endpoints. That kisspeptin-10 raises LH and testosterone is well documented; that it is a usable treatment for libido, fertility or recovery after androgen use has not been shown.

Research in humans

In a dose-response study in healthy men, intravenous boluses of 0.01 to 3.0 mcg/kg produced a dose-dependent LH rise, with maximal response at 1 mcg/kg (LH from approximately 4 to 12 IU/l after 30 minutes) 1. An infusion of 4 mcg/kg per hour for 22.5 hours raised LH from approximately 5 to 21 IU/l and testosterone from approximately 16.6 to 24.0 nmol/l. Other studies show a marked sex difference: in women the response depends strongly on cycle phase and is small in the follicular phase. Kisspeptin has further been studied as a safer alternative to hCG for triggering oocyte maturation in IVF, and as a diagnostic test in delayed puberty.

Animal and lab research

Extensively studied in rodents, sheep and primates; kisspeptin reliably elicits GnRH and LH release. These models support the mechanism well, but say little about clinical usefulness in humans.

Caveats. Studies with very small numbers of participants (often n = 4 to 12), predominantly healthy young men, and without a longer-term control group. There are no studies of repeated use over weeks or months, no long-term safety data, and not a single study of the applications for which the substance is sold on the grey market (libido, recovery of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis after anabolic steroid use).

What it is used for

  • Research into regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis 1
  • Experimental diagnostics in delayed puberty and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism
  • Research into triggering oocyte maturation in IVF (mainly with kisspeptin-54)
  • Research into the role of kisspeptin in sexual and emotional brain responses
  • Unlicensed use for libido and for restoring the body's own testosterone production — without evidence

Dosing

Dose
In studies: 0.01-3.0 mcg/kg as an intravenous bolus, or 1-4 mcg/kg per hour as an infusion
Frequency
Single dose or continuous infusion in research; there is no established repeat schedule
Route
intravenous in virtually all published studies; subcutaneous use has barely been studied
Duration
Studies lasted hours to at most a few days
  • The maximal bolus response in men came at 1 mcg/kg, where LH rose from about 4.1 to 12.4 IU/l at 30 minutes; 3 mcg/kg produced a significantly smaller response, which points to receptor desensitisation 1.
  • Doses circulating in user protocols (for example 100-200 mcg subcutaneously several times a week) do not come from clinical research and are not based on published pharmacokinetics for that route.
  • Given the half-life of a few minutes, a subcutaneous injection produces at most a brief LH peak; a lasting rise in testosterone is therefore not plausible.
  • In women the response depends strongly on cycle phase; doses from studies in men are not transferable.

These figures describe what the literature and published protocols report. They are not advice and not a dosing instruction.

Protocols

Self-injected course for libido and testosterone (user-reported)

user protocol — not validated

Source: User forum reports and vendor dosing pages

This is not a validated schedule. It is a pattern that circulates among users and sellers, reproduced because it is what people actually follow — not because it has been tested. No trial established these doses, this interval or this duration, and nobody is checking what is in the vial. Treat every number below as an assertion, not a finding.

Reported dose100-200 mcg subcutaneously; some start around 50 mcg
Reported frequencyone to three times a week, deliberately not daily
Reported cyclerun in blocks of several weeks, with no consistent off-period

These figures come from user forums and vendor dosing pages, not from any clinical study; the published human work used intravenous boluses and infusions of 0.01-4 mcg/kg over hours, never repeated subcutaneous self-injection 1. Two features make the practice largely self-defeating on its own terms. The plasma half-life is about four minutes, so a subcutaneous shot produces at most a brief LH pulse that has faded within hours, and a durable rise in testosterone is not pharmacologically plausible from it. And frequent dosing is the wrong instinct: in the dose-response study the response fell at the highest bolus, consistent with receptor desensitisation 1, so injecting more often is as likely to blunt the axis as to drive it - the once-to-thrice-weekly spacing in forum posts reads as an attempt to dodge that desensitisation rather than a schedule with any evidential basis. Grey-market material is not tested for content or endotoxin.

Schedules are reproduced as their source states them. Units, IU and milligrams explains why the figures are not interchangeable between products.

Reconstitution

Vial sizes
5 mg, 10 mg
Solvent
bacteriostatic water (0.9% benzyl alcohol)
Storage
Reconstituted 2-8 °C, generally approximately 3-4 weeks. Powder in the freezer, protected from light and moisture.

Worked example

5 mg vial + 2 ml bacteriostatic water = 2.5 mg/ml. 100 mcg then corresponds to 0.04 ml, that is 4 units on a U100 insulin syringe.

Do not shake; let the water run down the wall of the vial. Clinical studies used pharmaceutically prepared kisspeptin in physiological saline; grey market products are not tested for content or endotoxins.

Work it out for Kisspeptin-10

Safety

Side effects

  • No serious side effects were reported in the published short-term studies; the substance was generally well tolerated
  • Transient redness or pain at the infusion site
  • Headache and nausea, reported occasionally
  • Theoretical: disruption of the menstrual cycle through uncontrolled LH release
  • Side effects with repeated or prolonged use have not been studied — absence of reports is no proof of safety here

Do not use if

  • Pregnancy and breastfeeding — no safety data
  • Hormone-sensitive tumours (for example prostate carcinoma or hormone receptor-positive breast carcinoma): stimulating the gonadal axis is potentially harmful
  • Untreated pituitary or hypothalamic disorders
  • Concurrent use of GnRH agonists or antagonists, where the axis is deliberately suppressed
  • People under 18: kisspeptin acts directly on the mechanisms that drive puberty

Interactions

Not systematically studied. Theoretically opposed to GnRH antagonists and to long-acting GnRH agonists that desensitise the pituitary. Exogenous testosterone or oestrogen administration suppresses the axis through negative feedback and will reduce the response to kisspeptin.

Common questions

What is kisspeptin-10 used for?
Kisspeptin-10 sits at the top of the reproductive hormone axis: it drives the release of GnRH and, downstream, the sex hormones. It is a research compound studied in fertility and certain hypothalamic conditions, not an approved treatment.
Is kisspeptin approved or legal to buy?
It is not an approved medicine — it is a research compound, and powder sold online is an unapproved research chemical. See legal status.

Sources