September 23, 2026·6 min read·kpv, dosage, alpha-msh, anti-inflammatory peptide, peptide research, canada
KPV dosage — research dosing notes
What the literature reports about KPV dosage: the oral, intraperitoneal and topical amounts used in mouse colitis and skin models, why there is no human dosing data, and 10 mg vial arithmetic.
KPV dosage — research dosing notes — Canada Peptides
KPV is the tripeptide Lys-Pro-Val, the last three residues of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH). It was identified in 1989 as the fragment that carried α-MSH's anti-inflammatory activity without its pigmentation activity, and it has since been studied almost entirely in mouse models of colitis and in cell culture. Every dosing figure with a citation behind it is therefore an animal or in-vitro figure, expressed in micromoles per litre or milligrams per kilogram, and almost none of it used injection. This page collects those figures, the reconstitution arithmetic for the vial sold, and the reasons the rodent numbers do not become a human dose. It is a research reference, not advice. The KPV profile is the reference entry.
What the animal studies administered
The literature is small enough to list.
Oral, in drinking water. Dalmasso and colleagues (Gastroenterology, 2008) gave mice KPV in drinking water at a concentration on the order of 100 µmol/L throughout the induction of dextran-sulfate-sodium colitis and, separately, T-cell-transfer colitis, and reported less weight loss, lower histological scores and lower cytokine levels. The same paper established that uptake into colonic epithelial cells depended on the transporter PepT1. An independent group (Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 2008) reported reduced colitis severity in mice with oral KPV in the same year.
Oral, colon-targeted nanoparticles. In the 2010 follow-up (Gastroenterology), the Dalmasso group encapsulated KPV for release in the colon and delivered roughly 12,000-fold less peptide than the drinking-water experiment, with a comparable effect. Hyaluronic-acid-functionalised nanoparticles (Molecular Therapy, 2017) repeated the colitis finding with a different carrier. The direction of this work — ever smaller amounts, ever more targeted — is the clearest signal in the literature about where KPV acts: the gut wall, not the bloodstream.
Intraperitoneal. Older rodent inflammation work, descending from the original 1989 rabbit fever study (FASEB Journal), used low milligram-per-kilogram intraperitoneal doses.
Topical and in vitro. Skin and keratinocyte studies applied KPV topically or in culture; intestinal, immune and skin cell lines used concentrations of about 10 to 100 µmol/L. Molar figures translate to mass through the molecular weight of about 342 g/mol: 100 µmol/L is roughly 34 mg per litre, or 34 mcg per millilitre.
Route: why the literature is oral and the product is a vial
The colitis work used oral and colon-targeted delivery because PepT1, the di- and tripeptide transporter that carries KPV into cells, sits on the intestinal brush border and is upregulated in inflamed colon. That is a mechanism for reaching the gut, not a general route of administration. No published study has given KPV by subcutaneous injection to any species with a pharmacokinetic or dose-response readout, so the route common in applied research is the one with the least data behind it. Route changes absorption and exposure, and an oral drinking-water concentration says nothing about what an injected amount does.
Half-life
KPV's pharmacokinetics have not been formally studied. A free tripeptide in plasma would be expected to be cleared within minutes by peptidases — the central proline slows that somewhat, not enough to matter — which is a further reason the literature targets the gut wall rather than circulation. There is no measured half-life to plan a cadence around, and the "continuous in drinking water" and "once daily" schedules in the mouse work reflect experimental convenience, not a pharmacokinetic rationale.
There is no human dosing data
This is the whole of the human record: no clinical trial, no pharmacokinetic study, no safety study, by any route. A related α-MSH-derived peptide reached early clinical testing for a fungal indication in the 2000s; KPV itself did not. The milligram and microgram figures circulated online for KPV are not derived from any controlled study, and allometric scaling of the mouse amounts would be extrapolation from an oral model to an injected use in a species where the compound has never been measured. In September 2023 the U.S. FDA placed KPV in category 2 of its section 503A bulk-substances evaluation, citing insufficient safety and efficacy information; it may not be compounded there. In Canada KPV has no Health Canada market authorisation and no DIN, and is sold here for research use only. It is not named on the WADA Prohibited List; as an unapproved substance it falls under S0 for tested athletes.
Reconstitution arithmetic
Reconstitution math is deterministic and independent of any dosing question: concentration = peptide mass ÷ diluent volume, and on a U-100 insulin syringe 100 units = 1 mL. For the standalone KPV vial, following the profile's 10 mg example:
10 mg ÷ 2 mL bacteriostatic water = 5 mg/mL, so each unit holds 50 mcg and 10 units (0.1 mL) hold 500 mcg.
10 mg ÷ 5 mL = 2 mg/mL, so 10 units hold 200 mcg and 25 units hold 500 mcg.
As a small, polar tripeptide KPV dissolves almost instantly and needs no swirling. Larger volumes buy resolution on the barrel at the cost of a shorter in-solution shelf life.
The KLOW blend changes the arithmetic. Four peptides — KPV, GHK-Cu, BPC-157 and TB-500 — share one volume of water, so the per-unit figure for the vial is a figure for mixed peptide. Each component's concentration is its own milligram content, stated on the lot certificate of analysis, divided by the water volume; the KPV share of a unit is not the vial's share. The KLOW research overview sets out the component logic. Full procedure in Reconstitution 101 and the reconstitution glossary entry; the conversions are worked through in Dosing math, the dosage calculator has a KLOW preset that takes per-component amounts, and the vial planner turns a cadence into a draw-down schedule. The KPV research overview covers the mechanism behind these figures.
Frequently asked questions
What dose of KPV appears in the published studies?
Roughly 100 µmol/L in mouse drinking water (Dalmasso, Gastroenterology, 2008), about 12,000-fold less in colon-targeted nanoparticles (2010), low milligram-per-kilogram intraperitoneal doses in older rodent work, and 10 to 100 µmol/L in cell culture. No human figure exists.
Has KPV been dosed in people?
No. There is no clinical trial, pharmacokinetic study or safety study of KPV in humans by any route. Figures circulated online are not derived from controlled studies.
What is the half-life of KPV?
Not measured. A free tripeptide would be expected to clear from plasma within minutes, which is why the research uses oral, colon-targeted delivery aimed at the gut wall.
How is the vial reconstituted?
2 mL of bacteriostatic water into a 10 mg vial gives 5 mg/mL, so each U-100 unit holds 50 mcg; 5 mL gives 2 mg/mL. In KLOW, each component's concentration is calculated from its own amount on the certificate of analysis.
Is this medical advice?
No. This page reports what rodent and cell studies did with KPV. It is not medical advice, not a protocol, and not a suggestion that anyone administer the compound to a person.
