Sermorelin Dosage in the Research: Routes, Half-Life & Forms
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This page describes the sermorelin dosage used in published research — what was given, to whom, by which route, in which study. It is not a protocol and contains no recommendation for any person to take anything. The short version: research doses were small, given by injection under the skin, and timed to work with the body's own nighttime growth-hormone rhythm. The peptide clears the blood in about ten to twelve minutes, yet a single dose keeps growth hormone up for roughly three hours [3].
One durable, evidence-based point cuts through the product marketing: tablets and other swallowed or under-the-tongue forms are poorly absorbed, because peptides are broken down in the gut and cross mucous membranes badly — consistent with the ~3-5% bioavailability measured for the intranasal route [3].
Sermorelin dosage: what the studies administered
In the pediatric efficacy study, GHRH(1-29) was given as a once-daily subcutaneous injection at bedtime in growth-hormone-deficient children [1]. In aging research, healthy older men received 0.5 mg and 1 mg subcutaneously twice daily for 14 days [2]. In pharmacokinetic work, intravenous doses of 0.25-2 mcg/kg elicited GH release in healthy men, with maximal release at 1-2 mcg/kg [3]. Diagnostic GHRH stimulation testing historically used a single intravenous bolus (around 1 mcg/kg) to probe pituitary GH reserve. These are research and diagnostic contexts — described to inform, not to instruct.
Half-life and why timing matters
Native GHRH(1-29) has a short plasma half-life on the order of ~10-12 minutes after intravenous administration; it is cleared rapidly, yet a single dose still elevates serum GH for about three hours [3]. That brevity is the engineering problem that motivated longer-acting analogs — the D-Ala2 substitution and the DAC (drug-affinity-complex) albumin-binding technology behind CJC-1295 exist precisely to stretch GHRH action [3]. Because the body's largest natural GH pulse occurs during slow-wave sleep, research and clinical practice favored bedtime administration so the stimulus lands with the body's own rhythm rather than against it.
Sermorelin injection vs sermorelin tablets
Sermorelin injection (subcutaneous) is the route with essentially all of the supporting human data — the pediatric trial, the aging study, and the PK work all used parenteral administration [1][2][3]. Sermorelin tablets, sublingual drops, and troches are a different story: peptides are degraded by digestive enzymes and absorb poorly across oral and nasal mucosa, which is why the intranasal route managed only ~3-5% bioavailability in the pharmacokinetic study [3]. Research-user communities widely report oral and sublingual forms as ineffective, and the absorption data give that complaint a mechanistic basis. None of this is a purchasing or dosing recommendation — it is what the route data show.
Lyophilized (freeze-dried) sermorelin acetate is reconstituted with sterile diluent and typically refrigerated once mixed, because aqueous peptide solutions degrade; compounded preparations follow USP <797> sterile-compounding standards.