Heres a real good post that I found over at Musclechemistry that was posted by Proud13 He really know his sh*t about IGF, so if your planning on trying IGF this post is really helpful.
Hopefully this will help you guys out. I'll give some about my background first.
I've reviewed and compiled IGF-1R3 research for over 2 years now. I've recently been brought on to a university's research program which is trying to understand IGF effects more thoroughly and decide if it could help in disorders or injuries involving spinal, brain and nerve tissues. I've used IGF-R3 3x over the past year with the highest dosage being about 140mcg a day. The longest I ever went while still seeing results was about 4 wks.
Now here we go. IGF-1R3 is very unstable in powder or liquid form. It also needs to be put into an acidic environment to be usable. That means it "could" be mixed with anything from Kool-Aid to Benzol Alcohol (the latter many lemmings have been using), but the problem is it will degrade at an exponential rate due to lack of acidity. The reason labs pnly use Hcl is because it is going into petri dishes or a cute little mouse and they want it to be as potent as possible so their able to record dosages more accurately without guessing on degradation of the IGF. Benzoyl Alcohol has a lower acidity than that of sterile water so guess what...it will degrade and it's hard to mix up so have fun with your now weakend pain in the ass to inject IGF. It should also be kept at 4 degrees celcius and the refrigerator is as good a place as any but I would recommend the freezer once mixed.
Usage should be limited to 4 wks on and 4-6 wks off. The reason IGF starts to show no results around the 4 wk point is most likely because of receptor downgrade or the body producing some type of antibody to balance out the excess IGF. The time off should allow the body to return back to normal much like that when doing PCT after an AAS cycle for homestasis to be reached but the PCT is uncharted territory in the realm of IGF usage due to lack of "legal" human studies and understanding.
Dosages should not ever exceed 100mcg. Remember that 1 International Unit of HGH is equivalent to roughly 4-6 mcg of IGF-1R3. That means a dosage of 100mcg of IGF-1R3 is equal to 16.25-25 I.U.'s of HGH. That is considerably high by anyone's standards and side effects WILL be experienced. The highest dosage I personally ever took was 140mcg (70mcg x am/pm) and I only lasted 3 days before my left set of third molars (aka: wisdom teeth) came through completely. I also experienced swelling of my nasal cavities due to the amazingly recurrent growth of my nasal polyps which I had surgically removed 1.5 years prior. Nasal polyps grow in the sinus cavities and should, under normal growth rates, only have to be surgicall removed about every three years at the earliest. I also was extremely tired and lethargic and only wanted to sleep. Even when I took an ECA stack before working out I would just yawn my way through workouts and had to promise myself to hit it harder next time which was discoouraging. I simply wanted to know what would happen so there is no reason for anyone else to waste their time or money.
I would STRONGLY recommend dosages in the range of 40-80mcg a day of IGF divided between morning and evening injections. Remember IGF-1R3 is coupled with IGFBP-3 (IGF binding protein 3) which extends the half life to from about 6 minutes with normal IGF-1 to 8-12 hours with IGF-1R3 so only two injections are actually needed in a 24 hour period. If you're using over 80 or even 100mcg a day you can compare that to taking 10,000mg of a testosterone which would show results but a large amount of unwanted side effects too. You wouldn't shoot a bumble bee with a 12 guage so use what you need to get the job done in a comfortable and effective manner when it comes to IGF.
For those that are wondering what exactly IGFBP-3 is or would like to extend the life of their IGF-1 release via the liver with the use of exogenous HGH injections here is some quick info. Do not take Cynomel T3 because it increases the body's IGFBP-3 and this binds to the IGF changing it's shape so that it will not fit into IGF receptors.
To activate IGF-1R3...Since it needs to be in an acidic environment I would use something as simple as acetic acid which is vinegar. Use Distilled Vinegar at a rate of about 1:50 or sterile water or Bacteriostatic water. Run the vinegar through a Whatman filter just to be safe and keep purity standards high. Here is an example of how to convert 1mg (1,000 mcg) of IGF-1R3. This will give you an easily measured way of using it. You have 1,000mcg of IGF so mix it up with 5mls of liquid. Remember the 1:50 ratio? You're going to first put 10 IU's or 1/10 ml of your now filtered, distilled vinegar to react the IGF, then put in the reamining 490 IU's or 4.9 ml's of BaW in. You'll have a mixture of 1,000mcg dissolved into 5ml's of acetic-BaW. Each ml is 200mcg of IGF-1R3. I would recommend putting each ml into an individual vial. That way you can leave the remaining vials in the freezer to ensure stability. Put the one vial in the refrigerator and take what ever dosage you need. For instance if you are using 40mcg a day take out 20mcg in the am/pm which would amount to 10 IU's since each (1) I.U is equivalent to 2mcg.
I don't care if people disbelieve me on any of this. I have nothing to gain but enjoyment of knowing I have helped people to save money while getting HUGE. If you want to disagree with me I'll happily provide links to studies when possible.
By the way...I will be testing something that has been shown to increase in the presence of IGF but this new protein has only been isolated by one laboratory that I know so obtaining it may a problem. This protein, I will not give the name of right now, has been shown in studies to cause localized muscle growth and only in skeletal muscle tissue. That means no risk of GI (smooth muscle) or heart (cardiac muscle) growth. This will prove much more valuable than IGF and I will hopefully be using it this coming year. I will also be testing something called Agrcrp30 which causes the body to use adipose tissue as a source of energy in muscle tissue. I'll post the results when it comes available.
Manufacturers directions.....
Reconstition of the Peptide:
Long R3 IGF-1 is supplied lyophilized in a glass vial in an atmosphere of nitrogen at a slight vacuum (-25kPa). Care should be taken to equilibrate this slightly negative pressure when opening the vial and reconstituting the peptide to avoid losses. An air-filled syringe may be introduced through the bung to equalize the pressure before opening. Peptides in the lyophilized state should be stored at 2-4C and are stale for at least 3 years.
I.1 Remove the metal cap from the glass vial and introduce an air-filled 2ml syringe through the bung to equalize.
I.2 Add sufficient 10mM HCl solution to the peptide vial to achieve a peptide concentration of 1mg/ml.
Note that if the peptide vial purchased contains less than 1mg, reconstitute the peptide in 10mM HCl to achieve a stock concentration of 0.1 mg/ml. Addition of a carrier protein such as bovine serum albumin at a concentration of 0.1 - 1mg/ml should be added to prevent the loss of peptide activity due to non-specific absorption to glass and other surfaces.
I.3 Mix thoroughly to ensure all peptide dissolved in solution.
I.4 The resulting stock solution can be stored for at least 3 months at -20C or -80C. Longer term stability tests are continuing and extended stability is expected to be demonstrated.
Here is some info.
Recombinant Human LongTM R3 IGF-I
(Media Grade)
Catalog No: XXXXXXXX
Size: 5 mg
Description:
XXXXXXX scientists have produced Media Grade human LongTM R3 IGF-I to provide an inexpensive yet high quality
potent IGF-I analog for use as a growth factor supplement for serum-free or reduced-serum culture media. XXXXXXX
scientists have engineered this analog with the express purpose of increasing the biological activity of the IGF-I
molecule. LongTM R3 IGF-I is significantly more potent than human IGF-I in vitro. The enhanced potency is due to
decreased binding of LongTM R3 IGF-I to IGF binding proteins which normally inhibit the biological actions of IGFs.
Source:
Produced recombinantly in E.coli
Purity:
>95 % (by N-terminal sequence analysis)
Molecular Weight:
9111 daltons – confirmed by Mass Spectrometry
N-terminal sequence analysis:
18 residues > 95 % single sequence
Biological Activity:
Type 1 IGF receptor binding assay: ED50 > 15 ng/ml
IGF binding protein assay: ED50 >200 ng/ml
Stimulation of protein synthesis in rat L6 myoblasts: ED50 < 10 ng/ml
Endotoxin: < 0.1 EU/µg
State and Appearance:
Lyophilized white powder
Dried from 0.1 M acetic acid and stored under nitrogen at a slight vacuum
Storage/Stability: At least 2 years at 2 - 4°C (lyophilized)
HPLC Analysis:
Reverse-phase, C4 0.46 cm x 25 cm column. Linear gradient 0-80% acetonitrile in H2O, 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid.
References:
Francis G.L. et al. (1992) J. Mol. Endocrinol. 8, 213-223
Tomas F.M. et al. (1993) J. Endocrinol. 137, 413-421
Long is a trade mark owned by XXXXXXX Limited. LongTMR3IGF-I is covered by the following patents assigned to
XXXXXXX: US patent 5,330,971; European patent 429,586; Japanese patent 2,682,738; Australian patent 633,099; Canadian
patent 2,033,176;
NOT FOR HUMAN USE. FOR RESEARCH USE ONLY. NOT FOR DIAGNOSTIC OR THERAPEUTIC PROCEDURES
___________________
the proud