Peptides: Proper Storage and Preparation; Powder thru Reconstitution

[RUI-Products]

So you hear a lot of information, much of it conflicting, on the proper storage, reconstitution, and storage of reconstituted peptides. The purpose of this short write up is to clear up any confusion and hopefully answer any questions regarding this. Something to keep in mind here is that various peptides respond differently to the environmental conditions they are exposed to. In order to overcome these differences we will err on the side of caution here and specify instructions that will allow for optimal storage of ALL peptides.

The main issue when it comes to the stability of peptides and proper storage are the bonds that bind the amino acid chains together. Peptides are simply a sequence of amino acids, bound by covalent bonds. These bonds are the weak link in the peptide chain if you will and are affected by different conditions such as temperature and light etc. The breakdown of these bonds is what would be responsible for the degradation as/or potency and effectiveness of the peptide.

We will look at this in 5 stages:

1-Un-Reconstituted Powder
2-Reconstitution Agent
3-Reconstitution
4- Reconstituted Liquid Peptide Solution
5-General Precautions

First Un-Reconstituted Powder:

You will receive your peptides in sealed sterile vials in powder form. The optimal storage conditions for said peptides would be in an opaque storage bag or container, in a freezer. One suggestion would be to wrap vials in aluminum foil and place into a zip-lock freezer bag in the rear of your freezer. I say the rear of your freezer because on the door they will be exposed to rapid changes in temperature that would in all likelihood not damage the peptide, but again we are erring on the side of caution and suggesting optimal storage procedure.

Reconstitution Agent:

Your liquid reconstitution agent should be Bacteriostatic water or NaCL solution, both of which come in a sealed sterile vial. While this is fine stored in a cool dark place the optimal storage would be on your refrigerator door, near the top. Why near the top? Well temperatures are not even throughout the storage area of your refrigerator. This would be the warmest area of the fridge that would prevent the unlikely scenario of your Bacteriostatic water or NaCL solution freezing.

Reconstitution:

So you’re ready to reconstitute. Let’s get into the part that confuses people most, first, and let’s make it simple. Once you know a few key measurements and conversions this part becomes very easy. Let’s say you have a 2mg vial of cjc-1293 and you want to use it for your research project at 100mcg per experiment, experimenting 3x/day. Well first once you know that 2mg=2000mcg you can see that you need to get 20 doses out of your 2mg vial for each dose to equal 100mcg. Now the other key conversion is to realize that 100 IU’s equals 1ml of liquid. SO if we introduce 200 IU’s, or 2ml of Bac Water into our 2mg vial of cjc-1293, then 10iu’s equals 100mcg of cjc-1293. SO If we draw 10iu’s into our syringe we have our desired 100mcg/experiment dose. SO just remember that 1mg=1000mcg and 1ml=100iu’s and it becomes simple math to figure out how much liquid to introduce into your peptide powder to allow for very easy dosing measurements.

Now let’s move on to the actual mixing process. Remove your vial of peptide powder from the freezer, your reconstitution agent (Bacteriostatic water or NaCl solution) from the fridge. You will need an alcohol swab, a sterile needle and a sterile syringe with needle. Pop off flip top from vials of peptide powder and bacteriostatic water. Wipe now exposed rubber stoppers of both with alcohol swab. Unwrap sterile needle and insert into peptide vial rubber stopper off to the side a bit. The purpose of this is to vent the peptide vial so when introducing the bacteriostatic water you do not increase the pressure in the vial. It is very important with peptides to maintain even pressure in and out of vial for dosing purposes. You will find if pressure is increased inside vial while removing needle from rubber stopper the peptide solution will actually shoot out of the rubber stopper! Next unwrap your sterile needle and syringe. Pull back with air to however much bac water you wish to introduce into peptide vial and leave plunger there. Next insert plunger into bac water vial, pushing the air from the syringe into the vial and carefully measure the amount of liquid you will be introducing to peptide powder vial. Remove from bac water and insert needle and syringe with carefully measure bac water into center of vented rubber stopper on peptide powder vial. Very slowly introduce bac water into vial. Once all the bac water is in vial, remove syringe, remove vent needle and slowly swirl the vial until the solution inside is completely clear. Then swirl for another 30 seconds to one minute ensuring the peptide is in full solution.

Reconstituted Liquid Peptide Solution:

So you have slowly added the proper amount of Bacteriostatic water or NaCl solution to your peptide vial based on your desired dosage and gently swirled it till the peptide is in a clear solution. Where to store it? It should be stored in an opaque bag or container on your refrigerator door, at the top. Again, at the top to prevent the liquid peptide solution from freezing and potentially damaging the peptide solution. While not all peptides are damaged by freezing, some may be, so again, on the side of caution-the top of the door. After using the peptide for your research it should be returned to its opaque storage container and promptly returned to its spot on the top of refrigerator door.

General Precautions:

Lastly lets go over some general precautions and some peptide “no-no’s” if you will. Things that you never want to do along with things you should do.

*Never expose peptides to direct light.
*Never expose peptides to extreme hot or cold.
*Never mix and then store 2 different peptides in the same vial or syringe.
*Never remove the crimped metal seal or rubber stopper from sterile peptide vial or from sterile reconstitution agent vial.
*Try to keep pressure even inside and outside of peptide vial. So do not inject more air into vial of reconstituted peptide than you will be removing in liquid when you are loading the syringe.
*Always clean top of peptide vial with alcohol swab before loading the syringe.
*Always follow sterile injection procedure while performing your research.
*Always measure carefully! This goes for reconstitution to actual loading of syringe with the reconstituted peptide.

By following the simple steps above you can ensure maximum shelf life and maintenance of potency in all of your research peptides. We hope this has helped you and wish you all the best in your research!


Yours,

ar-r

[pjliftsalot]

Thanks for making this easy to understand. Good info. Im thinking of trying the tb500 after i read a log by a vet here and this info definitely helps me as far as how to mix and store it properly.