DSIP

Why scientists study it

• Monnier and Schoenenberger first pulled it from rabbit brain blood in 1977 during electrically triggered deep sleep, making it one of the earliest peptides proposed as a sleep signal and still a reference point when sleep peptides are compared.
• Early animal and human studies tested whether it shapes deep, slow-wave sleep, but later results did not agree and no receptor of its own has been confirmed, so how it works is still unclear.
• It has also been tested for effects on the stress hormones ACTH and cortisol, on long-term pain and opioid withdrawal, and in animals for antioxidant and stress-resistance effects.

Three studies to know

Graf & Kastin, 1986 · Peptides

This broad update pulled together what was known by then. It covers how DSIP was found, its structure, where it shows up in tissue, and the many effects reported in animal and human studies. Read the paper

Kovalzon & Strekalova, 2006 · Journal of Neurochemistry

This review looked back over almost 30 years of DSIP work. It found that, after all that study, nobody had settled how the peptide acts or what part it has in natural sleep. Read the paper

Schneider-Helmert & Schoenenberger, 1983 · Neuropsychobiology

This paper reports five human studies. DSIP was given into a vein under double-blind conditions. Effects were measured with psychological and physical tests and with sleep recordings. It belongs to the thin set of early human studies behind the evidence rating for DSIP. Read the paper

Safety and legal status

• DSIP is a research compound still under study. It is not approved as a medicine for people.
• It is not listed by name on the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.
• Its receptor and the way it works are still unconfirmed. It is supplied strictly for laboratory research use only, not for human consumption.