DSIP: what the studies show, status and safety
Summary
DSIP is a chain of nine amino acids found in rabbit brain blood in Basel in the 1970s. Its name is a hypothesis from 1977, not a proven effect: two independent groups found no meaningful benefit in insomnia, and the best modern study found the opposite. Russia alone licenses a nasal product containing it. No receptor is known.
Key findings at a glance
- The name comes from one rabbit experiment. Nine peptides were tested in 61 rabbits, double-blind. Only DSIP raised deep slow brain waves, by about 35 per cent against control animals. No breakdown product or altered version did the same [1], [2].
- Both independent replication attempts failed. In 1987 a Montevideo group called the sleep improvement of little clinical significance. In 1992 an Amsterdam group called a major therapeutic benefit unlikely [3], [4].
- The most recent controlled human study found the reverse. In 24 women having surgery it reduced delta activity, lightened anaesthesia and raised heart rate [5].
- The body's own version behaves nothing like a sleep signal. Measured every 30 minutes in 12 people, it peaked around 3 pm and bottomed around 1 am. Levels were lower in sleep than in wakefulness [6].
- No receptor, no gene, no precursor protein. The standing review of the field, from 2006, names this as the reason the link to sleep was never pinned down [7].
- Approved in one country only. A nasal preparation combining the peptide with glycine has been registered in Russia as ЛП-003849 since 20 September 2016 [8].
- Not a single registered trial. ClinicalTrials.gov held no study on 7 September 2026. The US Food and Drug Administration says it has identified no safety information for the proposed route; that page was current as of 22 April 2026 [9], [10].
What it is
DSIP is a nonapeptide, a short chain of nine amino acid building blocks. It came out of an unusual experiment. Marcel Monnier and Guido Schoenenberger stimulated a deep brain region in rabbits, drew blood from a vein leaving the brain, and dialysed it.
The fluid made other rabbits sleep. The peptide was picked out of it, sequenced and then made synthetically [2], [1].
One chemical detail matters more than it looks. Only the ordinary alpha-aspartyl form was active in the founding work; the closely related beta form was not. Chains with aspartate next to glycine, as this one has, are known to rearrange into that inactive form over time [1].
The World Health Organization later assigned the name emideltide. That is a naming decision for an ingredient, not an approval [11], [10].
Quick facts
| Field | Value | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| Name | DSIP; international non-proprietary name emideltide | [11] |
| Codes | DSIP; Deltaran is the Russian finished medicine | [8] |
| Class | Naturally occurring nonapeptide, made synthetically | [11] |
| Structure | Trp-Ala-Gly-Gly-Asp-Ala-Ser-Gly-Glu, nine amino acids, no ring, no end caps | [1] |
| Formula and mass | C35H48N10O15, 848.8 g/mol | [11] |
| Half-life | Never measured in people; 4.0 ± 0.7 minutes in dog, 2.9 in monkey, 2.0 ± 0.54 in rat | [12] |
| Route in the approved product | Intranasal, as a freeze-dried powder combined with glycine; sold without prescription | [8] |
| Status | Approved in Russia only; unapproved everywhere else | [8], [10] |
| Discovered by | Marcel Monnier and Guido Schoenenberger, Basel | [2] |
| ATC group | N07XX, carried by the Russian product, a catch-all rubric | [8] |
| CAS registry number | 62568-57-4 | [11] |
| UNII | YN28Z5YZ73 | [11] |
| PubChem CID | 68816 | [11] |
| InChIKey | ZRZROXNBKJAOKB-GFVHOAGBSA-N | [11] |
How it works
Nobody knows. There is no identified target, and the review that defines the state of the field carries the subtitle "a still unresolved riddle" [7].
- No receptor has ever been found. What the literature sometimes reports as a binding site is a transport mechanism. In guinea pig brain kept alive by an artificial blood supply, the transfer rate into three regions ran from 0.93 to 1.66 microlitres per minute per gram, and adding more of the plain peptide pushed it down to background. A doorway is not a switch [13], [7].
- No gene and no precursor protein are known. A Russian group proposed in 2011 that JMJD1B histone demethylases might be the source. The matching stretch differs at two of the nine positions, and the work is a database comparison [14], [7].
- An opioid link was suggested but never held up. The idea came from the observation that naloxone reversed the effect. That reversal does not show binding to an opioid receptor. A second study found the effect on the pain threshold in rats not naloxone-sensitive at all [15], [16].
- It may act as a general stress buffer. A large, mostly Russian animal literature reports benefit in cold, low oxygen, immobility and reduced blood flow to the brain. The breadth is itself a warning: helping in every model can be the sign of a weak method [17], [18].
- The measured peptide may not be the active one. Detection in tissue relied on antibodies, and part of what they bind sits attached to a larger carrier protein. The 2006 review considers it possible that some other, still unisolated peptide is doing the work [7], [19].
- Hormonal ideas were tested in people and failed. The peptide changed neither the stress hormones ACTH and cortisol nor growth hormone and prolactin [20], [21].
One property complicates every study. The relationship between amount and effect was repeatedly described as non-monotonic: more does not mean more, and the direction can flip [17].
This sets DSIP apart from the peptides it is listed beside. Growth hormone releasers act on a receptor that can be named and measured. Here there is nothing to measure [7].
What the trials found
The human record is small, old and lopsided. PubMed holds about 462 records, but much of that is animal work or an unrelated use of the same acronym. Human investigations number about a dozen [22].
The positive sleep results come almost entirely from one Basel group that included the co-discoverer. The two groups that checked from outside did not confirm them [3], [4], [23].
The two largest studies were open, uncontrolled and unblinded. The largest controlled study enrolled 24 people. Sources [24], [25], [26], [4], [5], [15], [27], [28].
Sleep in the discovering group's own studies
Small blinded study, one centre The first use in people gave six healthy volunteers a slow infusion. The middle value for total sleep time over the next two hours was 59 per cent higher than with a dummy treatment [24]. Six people with long-standing insomnia then slept longer and woke less often [29].
Placebo-controlled, one centre The strongest design here covered 14 patients over seven consecutive nights, reporting better night sleep and higher daytime alertness [26]. A week-long study in 18 patients reported normal sleep in the younger half [25].
The same group summarised five of its own studies, describing an effect that appeared after about an hour and lasted up to 20 hours. That sits awkwardly beside a substance that leaves animal blood within minutes [23], [12].
Sleep when other groups tested it
Independent replication, negative A Montevideo group ran a double-blind cross-over study over four nights in chronic insomnia. Waking episodes and total waking time fell, but not significantly against the baseline or the dummy nights. Where a difference did reach significance, it was already there before treatment [3].
Two details make this the pivotal study. Slow-wave sleep, the very thing the name refers to, did not change. And the authors concluded that any improvement was of little clinical significance [3].
Independent replication, weak An Amsterdam group studied 16 patients in matched pairs over five laboratory nights. Sleep efficiency and time to fall asleep improved against the dummy. The effects were weak, and part of the difference traced back to a chance shift in the dummy group. The authors called a major therapeutic benefit unlikely [4].
Depth of anaesthesia
Randomised, controlled The most recent human study, from 2009, gave the peptide or saline to 24 women having surgery, half in each group, awake and again under anaesthesia. Heart rate rose and heart rate variability fell. Delta activity went down, the flat pauses that mark deep anaesthesia became rarer, and the depth-of-anaesthesia index rose at the lowest level tested [5].
The authors read this as a lighter rather than deeper state. In the best-controlled recent human work, the delta sleep-inducing peptide reduced delta activity [5].
Alcohol and opiate withdrawal
Open, uncontrolled Two Geneva series reported striking numbers. In the first, 48 of 49 assessable people out of 67 improved. In the second, symptoms cleared or eased quickly in 97 per cent of opiate and 87 per cent of alcohol withdrawals among 107 inpatients [15], [27].
Neither series had a control group or blinding, and about a quarter of the first group could not be assessed. Withdrawal symptoms fade by themselves, so time and treatment cannot be told apart [15], [27], [30].
Hormone measurements
Controlled, negative In healthy men, infusion changed neither the ACTH nor the cortisol response, to a hormone challenge or to a meal. The authors state that their data do not support an inhibitory role in man [20]. A second group did find ACTH falling against saline in eight men [31].
Controlled, negative In eight healthy women, neither growth hormone nor prolactin moved. That paper contains an unexplained aside: the amounts used are known to alter ECG patterns [21].
The body's own peptide
Observational Twelve people were sampled every 30 minutes for a full day with simultaneous sleep recording. Levels peaked around 3 pm and bottomed around 1 am, tracking body temperature closely (r² = 0.66; p < 0.0001). They were lower in REM sleep (p < 0.005) and in slow-wave sleep (p < 0.05) than in wakefulness [6].
Observational People with Cushing's syndrome, in whom the body makes too much cortisol, sleep less deeply. Deep sleep filled 5.8 ± 1.4 per cent of the night in 12 patients, against 14.0 ± 2.5 per cent in 12 matched volunteers (p < 0.01).
Their morning peptide levels were lower rather than higher: 797 ± 57 against 1,062 ± 99 pmol/l in a larger comparison of 65 patients and 49 volunteers (p < 0.05). The less deep sleep someone had, the higher the morning level ran (r = -0.43; p < 0.05). The authors read that as evidence against a causal link [32].
Observational In sleep apnoea and narcolepsy there was no group difference at all [33].
Animal work
Animal data The founding rabbit experiment remains the clearest positive result: deep slow waves and sleep spindles rose about 35 per cent, and eight other peptides did not [1]. In 2001 the same species and route produced nothing. Of 13 altered versions, two raised slow-wave sleep by 10 to 15 per cent and one suppressed it [34].
Animal data The strongest evidence for a natural role is indirect. Rats deprived of sleep for four hours showed rises in slow-wave sleep (p < 0.001) and growth hormone (p < 0.01), and an antibody against the peptide blocked both [35].
Animal data Two mouse lifespan studies used the Russian combination product, for five days a month for life, 54 animals per group. Average lifespan did not change. The last tenth of survivors lived 17.1 per cent longer, maximum lifespan rose 24.1 per cent, and spontaneous tumours were 2.6-fold less frequent [36], [37].
What is still unknown
- What the human body does with it. No half-life or clearance figure has been published for people. The animal values are 4.0 ± 0.7 minutes in four dogs, 2.9 minutes in a monkey and 2.0 ± 0.54 minutes in three rats [12].
- Whether it can be taken by mouth. In a human gut-cell model only 8.2 ± 1.1 per cent survived two hours on the near side. Nothing appeared on the far side, even with the breakdown enzymes blocked [38].
- Whether it is safe over time. The longest documented human use is one week, and there are no immune-response or antibody data [25], [10].
- Whether the nasal route behaves like the injected one. No study compares them. The only approved product in the world is nasal, while almost all Western data are intravenous [39], [8].
- What is in grey-market material. No laboratory analysis of commercially sold product has been published, unlike for BPC-157 and TB-500 [10].
Side effects and safety
The safety file is thin rather than reassuring. Fewer than 250 people have documented exposure, mostly without systematic recording of side effects or follow-up.
- Heart rate up, heart rate variability down. The only physiological side effect from a controlled human study, seen in 24 women having surgery [5].
- Lighter anaesthesia. In the same study the depth index rose and the flat pauses of deep anaesthesia became rarer. This matters because it runs against the expected direction [5].
- An unexplained ECG remark. A 1993 hormone paper notes in passing, without figures, that the amounts used are known to alter ECG patterns [21].
- Headache. Reported in a few people in the 107-patient withdrawal series, which had no control group [27].
- Allergic reactions and nasal irritation. The two side effects on the Russian label, given without frequencies. They describe the nasal combination product, not the injected peptide [8].
- A Parkinson-like syndrome in rats. Reported in 1990 after injection straight into the substantia nigra. The route is experimental, and other work in the same region reports the opposite [40], [41].
The Russian label rules out pregnancy, breastfeeding and under-18s, and advises against use in marked slow heart rate. That warning and the heart findings under anaesthesia point the same way, from two unrelated sources [8], [5].
The regulator's own words are the sharpest summary. The FDA notes possible immune reactions for certain routes and difficulty in characterising the substance and its impurities. It then records that it has identified no safety information for the proposed route, and so cannot say whether the substance would cause harm [10].
Why this page lists no doses
One country licenses a medicine containing this peptide, with official product information and an approved schedule behind it. Where a medicine is approved, the amounts belong to that label and to the pharmacist or doctor who supplies it, not to a reference page [8].
Everywhere else there is no approved product, no pharmacopoeia standard and no human pharmacokinetic study to reason from. This page therefore gives no amounts, strengths, treatment lengths or instructions, in either direction [10], [12].
Development and approval status
From a Basel laboratory to an American safety note
- 1977Named after one experimentDeep slow waves rose about 35 per cent in rabbits; the peptide is sequenced and synthesised, refs [2], [1]
- 1987First independent test, negativeMontevideo group finds the sleep improvement of little clinical significance, ref [3]
- 1992Second independent test, weakAmsterdam group finds major therapeutic benefit unlikely; Western development stops, ref [4]
- 2001Rabbit result not reproducedSame species and route as 1977; no significant effect on sleep, ref [34]
- 2009Opposite effect under anaesthesia24 patients; delta activity falls and anaesthesia lightens, ref [5]
- 2016Russian approvalNasal preparation registered as ЛП-003849 on 20 September, ref [8]
- 2026FDA records missing safety dataEntry under withdrawn nominations, page current as of 22 April, ref [10]
- 1977 and 1978 the peptide is sequenced and named after the effect seen in rabbits [2], [1].
- 1981 to 1987 the Basel group publishes its human sleep studies [24], [26].
- 1987 and 1992 two outside groups test the sleep claim and do not confirm it [3], [4].
- 2009 the last controlled human study finds the effect running the other way [5].
- 2016 Russia registers the nasal preparation on 20 September [8].
- 2026 the FDA records missing human safety information as at 22 April [10].
| Market | Status | Since or note |
|---|---|---|
| Russia | Approved | 2016, intranasal |
| United States | Unapproved | Safety-risk list |
| European Union | Unapproved | No assessment report |
| Germany | Unapproved | Not scheduled |
| United Kingdom | Unapproved | Unlicensed |
| Australia | Unregistered | Not scheduled |
| Canada | Unapproved | No product number |
| Switzerland | Unapproved | None found |
The register checks were made on 7 September 2026. The American, Australian and German entries rest on primary documents read in full, each validated by searching the same source for a substance known to be listed [10], [42], [43].
Four entries are weaker. No primary document could be retrieved for the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada or Switzerland, so the status there follows from the absence of any approval record [10].
The Russian entry rests on two independent national databases that agree on the number, the composition and the form. The state register itself returned no readable page [8].
Two things deserve saying plainly about that approval. It covers a combination of the peptide with glycine given through the nose, sold without a prescription, not the injected pure substance of the Western studies. And it records that a regulator accepted a file: no randomised placebo-controlled trial of that product is findable [8], [9].
The wider legal picture is under are peptides legal and FDA-approved peptides.
Anti-doping
DSIP is not named on the 2026 prohibited list, and it was not on the 2025 list either. Its position is genuinely unresolved, and for an unusual reason [44].
The catch-all class covers any substance not addressed elsewhere on the list and with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use. The first half fits. The second does not sit comfortably, because Russia's health ministry has approved a preparation containing this peptide for use in people [44], [8].
The counter-argument is that the Russian approval covers a nasal combination product, not the injected substance sold as a research chemical. No published ruling settles the point [44].
Two claims should therefore be avoided. Not being named does not mean permitted, because the catch-all class carries no list of names. Equally, that class does not automatically apply here.
Anyone subject to testing carries the risk of that reading and needs a binding answer from their own anti-doping organisation. The NCAA does not name the peptide either, while stating that its list is not exhaustive [45]. The wider picture is at peptides banned in sport.
Compared with related peptides
| Peptide | Origin | Status | Strongest human evidence | Anti-doping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSIP | Isolated from rabbit brain blood, Basel | Approved in Russia only, nasal combination | Two independent studies, both essentially negative [3], [4] | Unresolved [44] |
| Selank | Tuftsin, an immune fragment, plus a stabilising tail | Over-the-counter medicine in Russia only | Brain scan in 52 healthy adults, no symptom measured | Unresolved [44] |
| Semax | Fragment of the stress hormone ACTH plus the same tail | Prescription medicine in Russia only | Same brain-scan programme, 52 healthy adults | Unresolved [44] |
| Epitalon | Synthetic four-part peptide from a pineal extract | Approved nowhere | Not assessed on this page | Caught by the catch-all class [44] |
These four are grouped together for one reason: Russia. Three have a Russian regulatory home that no other country matched, and all four trade internationally on the strength of it [8], [44].
DSIP is the odd one out. It is the only one of the four with independent Western replication attempts, and those came out negative. That is more information than most grey-market peptides have, and it points the wrong way [3], [4].
It is also the only one whose approved form combines it with a second active ingredient. Glycine is not a filler; it is a calming signal in its own right, sold separately in Russia. Every statement about the Russian product covers that pairing [8].
Common misconceptions
- "DSIP is a sleep aid." The name is a hypothesis from 1977. The sleep effect is the worst-replicated finding in the field. Deep sleep was unchanged in 1987, effects were weak in 1992, rabbits showed nothing in 2001, and delta activity fell in 2009 [3], [4], [34], [5].
- "DSIP, Deltaran and emideltide are the same thing." Emideltide is the ingredient's official name. Deltaran is a Russian nasal medicine pairing the peptide with glycine. Western studies used the pure substance by infusion, and findings do not carry across [8], [11].
- "There is a DSIP receptor." There is not, and there is no gene or precursor protein either. What is cited as a binding site is a ferry across the blood-brain barrier that can be filled to capacity [7], [13].
- "Analogues such as P-DSIP are stronger DSIP." They are separate substances. In the 2001 rabbit work, changing one amino acid raised slow-wave sleep in two versions and suppressed it in a third [34], [1].
- "Approved in Russia means properly tested." An approval records that a regulator accepted a file. No randomised placebo-controlled trial of that product is findable, and no trial of the substance is registered anywhere [8], [9].
- "It lasts up to 20 hours." That claim comes from the discovering group's own summary. In animals the substance leaves the blood within minutes, and the main breakdown product is the ordinary amino acid tryptophan. Nobody has resolved the gap [23], [12], [19].
Frequently asked questions
Does DSIP actually improve sleep?
The evidence does not support it. The studies reporting better sleep come almost entirely from the group that discovered the peptide. Both outside groups that tested the claim found little or nothing: one called the improvement of little clinical significance, the other called a major benefit unlikely. In 2009 a controlled study found delta activity going down rather than up.
Why is DSIP called delta sleep-inducing peptide if it does not induce delta sleep?
The name was given in 1977, after a double-blind rabbit experiment in which deep slow brain waves rose about 35 per cent. The name stuck, the finding did not. When the same species and route were used again in 2001, there was no significant effect on sleep.
Is DSIP approved anywhere?
In Russia only. A freeze-dried nasal preparation combining the peptide with glycine has been registered there as ЛП-003849 since 20 September 2016. There is no approval in the United States, the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada or Switzerland.
Is DSIP FDA-approved?
No. Two records are regularly misread. The American substance register lists emideltide with the status "approved", which refers to the name entry and not to any medicine. Separately, the FDA lists the substance among those that may present significant safety risks in compounding, having identified no safety information for the proposed route.
How long does DSIP stay in the body?
Nobody has measured it in people. In animals it disappears quickly: 4.0 minutes in dogs, 2.9 in a monkey and 2.0 in rats. That sits oddly beside the original researchers' claim of an effect lasting up to 20 hours, and the literature has never resolved it.
Is DSIP the same as Deltaran?
No. Deltaran is a Russian medicine containing the peptide together with glycine as a nasal powder. Glycine is a calming signal in its own right, not an inert filler. Everything reported about Deltaran describes that pairing; nearly all Western research used the pure peptide by infusion.
Is DSIP banned in sport?
It is unresolved. The peptide is not named on the 2026 prohibited list. The catch-all class covers substances with no current approval from any government health authority, and Russia's approval is current, so on the wording that class may not apply. Anyone tested needs a binding answer from their own anti-doping organisation.
What are the known side effects of DSIP?
Very little is documented, which is not the same as safe. The one controlled study to look found heart rate rising and heart rate variability falling, alongside lighter anaesthesia. A 1993 paper mentions unexplained ECG changes. The Russian label names allergic reactions and nasal irritation without frequencies.
Are there clinical trials of DSIP running?
None. ClinicalTrials.gov held no study on 7 September 2026 under any of five search terms. All the human evidence predates trial registration, so it cannot be checked against a record of what was planned. The last controlled study appeared in 2009.
Does DSIP have a known receptor?
No. After nearly fifty years there is no identified receptor, no gene and no precursor protein. The 2006 review that defines the field names this as the reason the link to sleep was never characterised further. What is described as a binding site is a transport mechanism carrying the peptide into the brain.
Sources
- Schoenenberger GA, Maier PF, Tobler HJ, Wilson K, Monnier M (1978). The delta EEG (sleep)-inducing peptide (DSIP). XI. Amino-acid analysis, sequence, synthesis and activity of the nonapeptide. Pflugers Archiv 376(2):119-129. PMID 568769. DOI 10.1007/BF00581575. Sixty-one rabbits, nine peptides, double-blind; delta activity rose about 35 per cent, and only the alpha-aspartyl form was active.
- Schoenenberger GA, Monnier M (1977). Characterization of a delta-electroencephalogram (-sleep)-inducing peptide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 74(3):1282-1286. PMID 265572. DOI 10.1073/pnas.74.3.1282. The paper that named the peptide.
- Monti JM, Debellis J, Alterwain P, Pellejero T, Monti D (1987). Study of delta sleep-inducing peptide efficacy in improving sleep on short-term administration to chronic insomniacs. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Research 7(2):105-110. PMID 3583493. First test by a group outside the discovering circle, in Montevideo.
- Bes F, Hofman W, Schuur J, Van Boxtel C (1992). Effects of delta sleep-inducing peptide on sleep of chronic insomniac patients. A double-blind study. Neuropsychobiology 26(4):193-197. PMID 1299794. DOI 10.1159/000118919. Independent Amsterdam group, 16 patients, matched pairs.
- Pomfrett CJ, Dolling S, Anders NR, Glover DG, Bryan A, Pollard BJ (2009). Delta sleep-inducing peptide alters bispectral index, the electroencephalogram and heart rate variability when used as an adjunct to isoflurane anaesthesia. European Journal of Anaesthesiology 26(2):128-134. PMID 19142086. DOI 10.1097/EJA.0b013e32831c8644. Twenty-four women, twelve given saline; the most recent controlled human study.
- Friedman TC, García-Borreguero D, Hardwick D, Akuete CN, Stambuk MK, Dorn LD, Starkman MN, Loh YP, Chrousos GP (1994). Diurnal rhythm of plasma delta-sleep-inducing peptide in humans: evidence for positive correlation with body temperature and negative correlation with rapid eye movement and slow wave sleep. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 78(5):1085-1089. PMID 8175965. DOI 10.1210/jcem.78.5.8175965. Twelve people, samples every 30 minutes with simultaneous sleep recording.
- Kovalzon VM, Strekalova TV (2006). Delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP): a still unresolved riddle. Journal of Neurochemistry 97(2):303-309. PMID 16539679. DOI 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2006.03693.x. The standing critical review; source of the wording about the missing gene, protein and receptor.
- Product information for Deltaran (Дельтаран), registration ЛП-003849 of 20 September 2016, re-issued 9 March 2022. Marketing authorisation holder OOO Nauchno-issledovatelskiy tsentr KOMKON; manufacturer the State Research Institute of Highly Pure Biopreparations, St Petersburg. The state register itself returned no readable page on 7 September 2026, so two independent Russian medicines databases were read instead and agreed on every core entry. Both databases give the dispensing status as without prescription. https://www.rlsnet.ru/drugs/deltaran-8383 and https://www.vidal.ru/drugs/deltaran
- ClinicalTrials.gov API v2, intervention field queried on 7 September 2026 for "delta sleep-inducing peptide", "delta sleep inducing peptide", "DSIP", "emideltide" and "deltaran". No study. The single phrase hit, NCT05251207, is a trial of L-carnitine in 40 people and does not involve the peptide. https://clinicaltrials.gov/
- US Food and Drug Administration. Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks. Entry "Emideltide (DSIP)" in the table of bulk drug substances nominated but withdrawn. Page content current as of 22 April 2026, retrieved 7 September 2026. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/certain-bulk-drug-substances-use-compounding-may-present-significant-safety-risks
- PubChem compound CID 68816 and the FDA global substance register record for UNII YN28Z5YZ73, both queried on 7 September 2026. They agree on formula, mass, InChIKey and the two registry numbers. The register status "approved" refers to the name entry, not to any medicine. Wikidata points instead to CID 5523017, a separate record for the same substance. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/68816
- Kato N, Honda Y, Ebihara S, Naruse H, Takahashi Y (1984). Development of an enzyme immunoassay for DSIP and its use in the determination of the metabolic clearance rate of DSIP administered to dogs. Neuroendocrinology 39(1):39-44. PMID 6379493. DOI 10.1159/000123952. The only quantitative disappearance data; dog, monkey and rat.
- Zlokovic BV, Susic VT, Davson H, Begley DJ, Jankov RM, Mitrovic DM, Lipovac MN (1989). Saturable mechanism for delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) at the blood-brain barrier of the vascularly perfused guinea pig brain. Peptides 10(2):249-254. PMID 2547200. With Zlokovic BV, Segal MB, Davson H, Jankov RM (1988). Passage of DSIP across the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier. Peptides 9(3):533-538. PMID 3420012.
- Mikhaleva II, Prudchenko IA, Ivanov VT, Voitenkov VB (2011). JmjC-domain-containing histone demethylases of the JMJD1B type as putative precursors of endogenous DSIP. Peptides 32(4):826-831. PMID 21262293. DOI 10.1016/j.peptides.2011.01.006. A database similarity search, not a demonstration of biosynthesis.
- Dick P, Grandjean ME, Tissot R (1983). Successful treatment of withdrawal symptoms with delta sleep-inducing peptide, a neuropeptide with potential agonistic activity on opiate receptors. Neuropsychobiology 10(4):205-208. PMID 6328354. DOI 10.1159/000118012. Sixty-seven people, open, uncontrolled, 27 per cent not assessable.
- Nakamura A, Nagai K, Ando K, Tanaka G, Sakai R, Shiomi H (1988). Potent antinociceptive effect of centrally administered delta-sleep-inducing peptide. European Journal of Pharmacology 155(3):247-253. PMID 2853064. The opposing finding, that the effect on the pain threshold was not naloxone-sensitive, is PMID 3679693.
- Graf MV, Kastin AJ (1984). Delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP): a review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 8(1):83-93. PMID 6145137. DOI 10.1016/0149-7634(84)90022-8. With the 1986 update, Peptides 7(6):1165-1187, PMID 3550726. Both describe the non-monotonic shape of the dose-response relationship.
- Deltaran in rat models of stress and cerebral ischaemia, from a small number of Russian institutes: PMID 17073141, PMID 18975104, PMID 8597403 and PMID 22432135.
- Graf MV, Saegesser B, Schoenenberger GA (1987). Degradation and aggregation of delta sleep-inducing peptide and two analogues in plasma and serum. Peptides 8(4):599-603. PMID 3628078. With Nakamura A, Nakanishi H, Shiomi H (1993). Characterization of the release and metabolism of DSIP in the rat brain. Neuropeptides 24(3):131-138. PMID 8474631.
- Späth-Schwalbe E, Schäfer A, Uthgenannt D, Born J, Fehm HL (1995). Delta-sleep-inducing peptide does not affect CRH and meal-induced ACTH and cortisol secretion. Psychoneuroendocrinology 20(3):231-237. PMID 7777652. Healthy men; the authors state that their data do not support an inhibitory role in man.
- Giusti M, Carraro A, Porcella E, Vitali S, Marini G, Cavagnaro P, Giordano G (1993). Delta sleep-inducing peptide administration does not influence growth hormone and prolactin secretion in normal women. Psychoneuroendocrinology 18(1):79-84. PMID 8475226. Eight healthy women; contains the unexplained remark that the doses used are known to modify ECG patterns.
- PubMed, queried on 7 September 2026: about 462 records for the name or the acronym in title and abstract. Part of that count belongs to an unrelated use of the same acronym, for example deuterium stable isotope probing in Raman spectroscopy, PMID 38854576.
- Schneider-Helmert D, Schoenenberger GA (1983). Effects of DSIP in man. Multifunctional psychophysiological properties besides induction of natural sleep. Neuropsychobiology 9(4):197-206. PMID 6689058. DOI 10.1159/000117964. Summary of five studies by the discovering group; source of the claim of an effect lasting up to 20 hours.
- Schneider-Helmert D, Gnirss F, Monnier M, Schenker J, Schoenenberger GA (1981). Acute and delayed effects of DSIP on human sleep behavior. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Therapy and Toxicology 19(8):341-345. PMID 6895513. Six healthy volunteers, double-blind cross-over; the first use in people.
- Schneider-Helmert D (1986). Efficacy of DSIP to normalize sleep in middle-aged and elderly chronic insomniacs. European Neurology 25(6):448-453. PMID 3792404. DOI 10.1159/000116050. Eighteen patients over one week with a week of follow-up, no dummy arm reported.
- Schneider-Helmert D (1987). Effects of delta-sleep-inducing peptide on 24-hour sleep-wake behaviour in severe chronic insomnia. European Neurology 27(2):120-129. PMID 3622582. DOI 10.1159/000116143. Fourteen patients, placebo-controlled, seven consecutive nights.
- Dick P, Costa C, Fayolle K, Grandjean ME, Khoshbeen A, Tissot R (1984). DSIP in the treatment of withdrawal syndromes from alcohol and opiates. European Neurology 23(5):364-371. PMID 6548969. DOI 10.1159/000115715. The largest human series, 107 inpatients, open and unblinded.
- Odin VI, Belikova TV, Pushkova ES, Barr NA (2004). Diabetes mellitus in the elderly: geroprotective and antidiabetic properties of delta sleep-inducing peptide. Advances in Gerontology 15:101-114. PMID 15754961. Eleven people, open, no control group, many outcomes tested at once.
- Schneider-Helmert D, Schoenenberger GA (1981). The influence of synthetic DSIP on disturbed human sleep. Experientia 37(9):913-917. PMID 7028502. DOI 10.1007/BF01971753. Six middle-aged people with long-standing insomnia.
- Backmund M, Meyer K, Rothenhaeusler HB, Soyka M (1998). Opioid detoxification with delta sleep-inducing peptide: results of an open clinical trial. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 18(3):257-258. PMID 9617990. No abstract is held in the database; the preceding letter is PMID 9137140.
- Chiodera P, Volpi R, Capretti L, Marchesi M, d'Amato L, Coiro V (1994). Different effects of delta-sleep-inducing peptide on arginine-vasopressin and ACTH secretion in normal men. Hormone Research 42(6):267-272. PMID 7698722. Eight men plus seven; ACTH fell against saline, vasopressin did not change.
- Friedman TC, García-Borreguero D, Hardwick D, Akuete CN, Doppman JL, Dorn LD, Barker CN, Yanovski JA, Chrousos GP (1994). Decreased delta-sleep and plasma delta-sleep-inducing peptide in patients with Cushing syndrome. Neuroendocrinology 60(6):626-634. PMID 7700506. DOI 10.1159/000126806. The authors read their own correlation as evidence against a causal link.
- Vgontzas AN, Kales A, Bixler EO, Vela-Bueno A, Vgontzas DA, Friedman TC, Chrousos GP (1995). Delta sleep-inducing peptide in normal humans and in patients with sleep apnea and narcolepsy. Peptides 16(6):1153-1156. PMID 8532601. No significant difference between the groups.
- Koval'zon VM (2001). Hypnogenic properties of DSIP peptide analogues: structural-functional relationship. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya (4):467-474. PMID 11525128. Rabbits, same route as the 1977 work; the peptide itself had no significant effect on sleep.
- Iyer KS, Marks GA, Kastin AJ, McCann SM (1988). Evidence for a role of delta sleep-inducing peptide in slow-wave sleep and sleep-related growth hormone release in the rat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 85(10):3653-3656. PMID 3368469. DOI 10.1073/pnas.85.10.3653. Antibody injection blocked both rises after sleep deprivation.
- Popovich IG, Voitenkov BO, Anisimov VN, Ivanov VT, Mikhaleva II, Zabezhinski MA, Alimova IN, Baturin DA, Zavarzina NY, Rosenfeld SV, Semenchenko AV, Yashin AI (2003). Effect of delta-sleep inducing peptide-containing preparation Deltaran on biomarkers of aging, life span and spontaneous tumor incidence in female SHR mice. Mechanisms of Ageing and Development 124(6):721-731. PMID 12782416. DOI 10.1016/s0047-6374(03)00082-4.
- Voitenkov BO, Popovich IG, Zabezhinski MA, Anisimov VN (2009). Study of the effect of Deltaran on behaviour, life span and carcinogenesis in female SHR mice. Advances in Gerontology PMID 20405733. Russian-language follow-up to the 2003 study, with the same direction of finding.
- Augustijns PF, Borchardt RT (1995). Transport and metabolism of delta sleep-inducing peptide in cultured human intestinal epithelial cell monolayers. Drug Metabolism and Disposition 23(12):1372-1378. PMID 8689946. No passage to the far side of the cell layer, even with the breakdown pathways blocked.
- Hruz P, Zechner S, Heimberg D, Hobi V, Schoenenberger GA, Scheffler K, Müller-Spahn F, Seifritz E (2001). Intranasal administration of delta sleep-inducing peptide increases P300. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 21(6):626-628. PMID 11763019. A short communication; the only Western human report using the nasal route.
- A 1990 Russian report of a Parkinson-like syndrome in rats after injection of the peptide directly into the substantia nigra, PMID 2337637, alongside reports of anticonvulsant effects in the same region, PMID 1286686 and PMID 9121635.
- Anticonvulsant work in the metaphit-induced audiogenic seizure model in rats, from one Belgrade group over about a decade: PMID 11884222, PMID 15911358, PMID 16645330 and PMID 17957464.
- Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard—June 2026) Instrument 2026, Australia. Full text searched on 7 September 2026 for "delta sleep", "DSIP" and "emideltide"; no match, against nine hits for the control terms BPC-157, TB-500 and thymosin in the same document.
- Germany: Annex 1 of the Arzneimittelverschreibungsverordnung and Annexes I to III of the Betäubungsmittelgesetz, full texts searched on 7 September 2026 for "delta sleep", "DSIP" and "Emideltid"; no entry. Not being scheduled does not make an unapproved medicine lawful to supply.
- World Anti-Doping Agency, The 2026 Prohibited List. Full text of the official promulgation checked on 7 September 2026 for "delta sleep", "DSIP", "emideltide" and "deltaran"; no match, and none in the 2025 list either. A control search found BPC-157 in the same document under class S0. https://www.wada-ama.org/en/prohibited-list
- National Collegiate Athletic Association, banned substances list. The peptide is not named. The list states in its own words that it is neither complete nor exhaustive and that anything chemically or pharmacologically related to the named classes is also banned.
Cite this page
The facts on this page were checked on 7 September 2026, and the registers behind the status table were queried on that same day. Two things could move: the Russian registration, and the unresolved anti-doping question. The version and the date therefore matter as much as the text.
myPeptides Research & Editing. (2026). DSIP: what the studies show, status and safety. Version 1.0, 7 September 2026. myPeptides Peptide Register. Retrieved from https://mypep.app/peptides/dsip
How pages in this register are compiled and graded is described under methodology; the full register is at peptides.
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-09-07 | Initial publication |
Last verified: 7 September 2026. Next review: on any change to the Russian registration, on any FDA action concerning the substance, or on any clarification of its anti-doping status.