MOTS-c Dosage Chart: What Studies Used vs What Reddit Reports

This MOTS-c dosage chart separates the doses that published studies used from the amounts people on Reddit say they inject. The first set is per-kilogram mouse and rat dosing plus two human trials that do not publish a milligram figure. The second is anecdote, and it sits far below the 5 to 20 mg charts that vendor and affiliate pages print. Neither is a prescription, because MOTS-c has no approved human dose.

For what MOTS-c is and how the evidence stacks up overall, see our MOTS-c peptide guide. This page is the dose-focused companion.

MOTS-c dosage chart: what the published studies used

Start with the table, because it answers the question most people arrive with: what number appears in a paper. The answer is a per-kilogram animal dose, and for people, no disclosed number at all.

The mouse work is where nearly every dose figure online comes from. A 2021 paper in Nature Communications treated young, middle-aged and old mice with 5 or 15 mg/kg a day by injection into the abdominal cavity for two weeks, and reported better physical performance at all three ages (PMID 33473109). The same paper tested a late-life schedule of 15 mg/kg three times a week, which is where the "every other day, not daily" idea in community protocols seems to come from. A separate 2022 study gave untrained mice a single 15 mg/kg dose before a treadmill test and measured a 12 percent longer run time and 15 percent longer distance (PMID 35808870). A 2023 rat study of diabetic heart injury used a much smaller 0.5 mg/kg a day, seven days a week for eight weeks (PMID 37957221).

The mouse doses are 10 to 30 times the rat dose per kilogram, and no study we found compares them directly. The original 2015 Cell Metabolism paper reported that MOTS-c prevented age-related and diet-induced insulin resistance in mice (PMID 25738459), but its abstract does not state the dose, so we do not quote one.

Human data is thinner. CB4211, an engineered MOTS-c analog, ran a phase 1a/1b study with 88 participants, completed in April 2021 (NCT03998514). The registry lists "Dose 1" through "Dose 6" and no milligrams, and no results are posted. The one registered trial of MOTS-c itself, NCT07505745, is a phase 2a in 120 adults with prediabetes and overweight, giving a fixed subcutaneous dose once daily for 12 weeks. It started in February 2026, the dose is not disclosed, and the estimated primary completion is February 2027. That daily design differs from the three-a-week pattern Reddit users describe.

Why animal doses do not convert into a human dose

People often ask for the "per kilogram" version of the chart. You can do the arithmetic, but you should know what it is. Regulators scale animal doses to humans using body-surface-area factors of roughly 3 for a mouse, 6 for a rat and 37 for a person. By that method, 5 mg/kg in a mouse scales to about 0.4 mg/kg, or roughly 28 mg for a 70 kg adult. The 15 mg/kg dose scales to about 85 mg. The rat dose of 0.5 mg/kg scales to about 5.7 mg. These are my calculations, not figures from any MOTS-c paper.

Look at the spread. The rat-derived number lands near the 5 mg that many people report, while the mouse-derived numbers are 5 to 15 times higher than anything Reddit users described.

Scaling also assumes the same behavior across species and routes, and the animals were injected into the abdominal cavity. One Peptidesource commenter put the situation bluntly: "Likely because there is no official dose or administration schedule for this compound." (a r/Peptidesource commenter, Sep 2026). The accurate summary is that every flat milligram figure, from vendors or users, is convention.

What Reddit users report taking

To see what people do in practice, I read 295 posts and comments from 22 threads across 9 subreddits, mostly r/NTNPerformance, r/Peptidesource, r/BodyHackGuide and r/Biohacking, from October 2025 to October 2026. After removing deleted comments, moderator and bot notices, jokes, vendor pitches, other-compound threads and questions with no personal dose, about 58 comments were first-hand accounts, and 46 of them named a per-injection dose. Four of those were written as being about a "hamster" or a lab rat, which several of these communities require for rules reasons; I counted them as written. That is a small, self-selected sample from enthusiastic communities, and none of it is verified.

Here is how the 46 distribute.

The most common band was 1.5 to 2 mg (13 comments), followed by 5 mg (9) and 1 mg or less (9). Frequency: 17 people used three days a week, usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 used it daily or five to six days a week; 7 used it twice a week or every four to five days; 12 did not say. A second-hand report of a friend on 15 mg three times a week came with the author's own warning not to copy it.

The striking gap is against the vendor charts. Pages that rank for this keyword typically print 5 to 20 mg a day for performance, but only 9 of 46 people used 5 mg and 2 used 10 mg. Several described starting at 0.5 to 1 mg to check for reactions, then climbing; one went from 0.8 mg to 2.5 mg three times a week.

More is not clearly better, even in these communities. The original poster in the largest thread reported a slight cardio improvement at 1 to 2 mg and no real difference at 3 mg. Another commenter said "3mg was good but 4mg was better. 5mg was no different than 4mg so next time I will stick to 4mg." (a r/NTNPerformance commenter, Sep 2026). It is one person, comparing three weeks at each dose, so treat it as a story rather than a dose-response curve.

On timing, 11 of the 46 inject 40 to 90 minutes before training and 3 take it first thing in the morning. Opinions on fasting conflict.

What did they say happened? Of 43 people who described an outcome, 36 reported a benefit, mostly more energy, endurance, cardio capacity or recovery. Two were mixed, and five reported nothing, a placebo-like effect or feeling worse. At least 10 of the 36 were also using NAD+, SS-31, 5-amino-1MQ or growth hormone, one a long list of drugs including anabolic steroids, so the effect cannot be pinned on MOTS-c. People who feel nothing are less likely to post.

Side-effect reports were less rosy. Nine people described a problem: two reported anxiety or agitation (one at 2 mg, one at 1 mg), three described fatigue or a crash, two had skin welts or an allergic-type reaction, one was alert at midnight after an evening dose, and one blamed an overuse injury on training harder. One commenter wrote "It gave me wild anxiety at 2mg but I've heard that passes after a few injections." (a r/Biohacking commenter, Jun 2026). See our MOTS-c side effects page for what is documented.

Reconstitution math: mg, mL and syringe units

MOTS-c is dosed in milligrams, not micrograms, which makes it easy to carry over habits from other peptides and miss by a factor of ten or a hundred. Several threads show the confusion. In r/wellnessandhealthlife, a posted dosage guide drew replies calling it wrong or AI-generated, and two replies gave the correct math: with 2 mL in a 10 mg vial, 1,000 mcg is 20 units, not 30. Another user asked whether 5 mg is 40 units on a U-40 syringe, which works only because a U-40 holds 40 units per mL; on a U-100 the same 1 mL is 100 units. A third said they take "three units" without stating the water added, which tells you nothing.

The formula is: units on a U-100 syringe = dose in mg ÷ concentration in mg/mL × 100. A worked example: a 10 mg vial reconstituted with 2 mL of bacteriostatic water is 5 mg/mL. A 2 mg dose is 2 ÷ 5 = 0.4 mL, which is 40 units. The same vial with 1 mL of water is 10 mg/mL, and 2 mg is 20 units.

Vial size sets how long a vial lasts. A 10 mg vial holds five 2 mg doses, ten 1 mg doses or two 5 mg doses. At 2 mg three times a week a vial lasts about 12 days, at 1 mg five days a week it lasts two weeks, and at 5 mg three times a week it is gone in under five days.

Shelf life after mixing is a second constraint. Our guide cites about 14 days refrigerated, while some vendor pages say three to four weeks; we could not verify either against a manufacturer stability study, so treat it as unsettled. For scale, at $62.00 a vial, 12 weeks at 5 mg three times a week is 18 vials (about $1,116), and at 2 mg it is about 7 vials (roughly $446), before shipping or discounts.

If you want a single supplier to check against, Ascension Peptides sells MOTS-c 10 mg at $62.00 as of 2026-10-11 ($6.20 per mg). Kovera Labs tests every batch (HPLC, LC-MS identity, net content, endotoxin, sterility and heavy metals), more than 98 percent of tested batches pass, and batch certificates are public. Prices are in US dollars, shipping is US only and all sales are final. New customers can use code PEPTIDEDECK for 50 percent off. It is a research chemical, labeled not for human use. Our where to buy MOTS-c page explains how to read a certificate of analysis.

Timing, frequency and cycle length

There is no tested schedule, so what follows is what the sources say rather than what to do. The mouse study that tested late-life dosing used three injections a week, and that is also the single most common pattern among Reddit commenters. A commenter in r/Peptidesource argued that daily dosing leaves the AMPK signal permanently on, so it stops being a signal, and that this is why people report feeling tired or noticing little. That is a mechanism argument, not a trial result. Others dosed daily and liked it. The half-life figures in circulation range from two to four hours in a Reddit comment to four to six hours in our overview guide; I could not verify either from a human pharmacokinetic study.

Cycle length is the weakest area. The animal studies ran from a single dose to eight weeks. Reddit reports cluster at 5 to 12 weeks, often followed by a break of a few weeks. Nothing is known about repeated cycles over years.

What changes the dose

These variables are said to matter, though none can be quantified from the evidence available.

Goal and age. Vendor pages split doses by goal, with higher figures for performance and longevity, and no source we found supports that split. Some commenters said the effect is more obvious past age 50 and others said people in their 30s need nothing; both are opinions.

Stacking. A common claim is that SS-31 should be run first to "prime" mitochondria. Another commenter called that a salesman's idea. No trial tests it, and combining products makes it impossible to tell which one caused a benefit or a reaction.

Sensitivity and conditions. Reports of agitation, welts and allergic-type reactions are why many users start at 0.5 to 1 mg. The registered phase 2a excludes people with diabetes, people on glucose-lowering drugs and those with significant heart, kidney or liver disease, so those groups are outside what is being studied. Anyone pregnant, breastfeeding or with a history of serious allergic reactions should ask a clinician first.

Product quality. If the vial contains less than the label says, every calculation above is wrong, and one poster said they had a batch tested before judging the effect. It is the least discussed reason two people on the "same dose" report different results.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the MOTS-c dosage?

There is no established MOTS-c dosage for humans. Animal studies dose per kilogram, for example 0.5 mg/kg/day in rats and 5 to 15 mg/kg/day in mice. The human trials do not disclose a milligram dose. Among 46 Reddit comments that named a dose, most were 5 mg or less per injection, and 1.5 to 2 mg was the most common band.

How many units of MOTS-c is 2 mg?

It depends on the water you added. With a 10 mg vial and 2 mL of water the concentration is 5 mg/mL, so 2 mg is 0.4 mL, or 40 units on a U-100 syringe. With 1 mL it is 20 units, and with 3 mL it is 60 units. Divide the dose by the concentration, then multiply by 100.

How often do people take MOTS-c?

In the Reddit comments, 17 of 46 used it three days a week, 10 daily or five to six days a week, and 7 twice a week or every four to five days. No study compared schedules in people, so these are habits, not evidence.

How long do people run MOTS-c?

Reddit users mention 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks, often followed by a break of about a month. No study defines a cycle length in humans, and the one registered trial of MOTS-c runs 12 weeks of daily dosing.

Is MOTS-c FDA-approved?

No. I searched DailyMed on 2026-10-11 and found no MOTS-c drug label. It is sold as a research chemical. Some clinics may offer compounded versions, but I have not verified the current rules, so ask a clinician rather than assuming. I did not check its status in tested sport.

Checking a vial before you do any math

The dose math assumes the label is true, so confirm lot, purity and mass first. Ascension Peptides lists MOTS-c 10 mg at $62.00 as of 2026-10-11, with per-batch Kovera Labs testing and public batch certificates; US shipping only and all sales are final. Write units out in full, and treat every Reddit number here as an anecdote.