How much water do I add to a 10 mg Epitalon vial?

There is no single correct amount: water changes how many units a dose is, not how many doses the vial holds. With 1 mL the vial is 10 mg/mL and 7.5 mg is 75 units (0.75 mL) on a U-100 insulin syringe. The units table gives 1 mL.

How many doses are in a 10 mg Epitalon vial?

2 doses at 5 mg, 1 dose at 7.5 mg, 1 dose at 10 mg.

How long does a 10 mg Epitalon vial last?

At 7.5 mg a dose and once nightly, about 0.1 weeks. How long a mixed vial keeps is a separate limit; see storage below.

How many 10 mg vials do I need for a cycle?

5 vials at 5 mg 7 times a week for 1.4 weeks; 21 vials at 10 mg 7 times a week for 2.9 weeks.

What does 1 unit equal in a 10 mg Epitalon vial?

100 mcg with 1 mL of bacteriostatic water, on a U-100 syringe.

Research use only · common protocol

Epitalon 10 mg vial dosage

A 10 mg Epitalon vial mixed with 1 mL of bacteriostatic water gives 10 mg/mL, so 7.5 mg is 75 units (0.75 mL) on a U-100 insulin syringe. At 7.5 mg a dose, one vial holds 1 dose.

Email me this plan, with a reminder before the vial's 28-day mark →

The common Epitalon protocol is 5-10 mg, once nightly, every night, for the length of the cycle - common practice, not a dose established in trials. Evidence, side effects and legal status are on the full Epitalon dosing page.

Epitalon 10 mg vial at a glance

Vial: 10 mg of Epitalon per vial
Common dose: 5-10 mg
How often: once nightly, every night, for the length of the cycle
Mixing example: 1 mL bacteriostatic water = 10 mg/mL; 1 unit = 100 mcg
Doses per vial: 2 at 5 mg · 1 at 7.5 mg · 1 at 10 mg
Cycle: 1.4-2.9 weeks, then 17-26 weeks off

What Epitalon is

Class:: Synthetic tetrapeptide (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly)
Also called:: Epithalon, Epithalamin, AEDG peptide
Used for:: Sold for longevity and anti-aging on the basis of telomere research.
Human evidence:: Animal / lab only. 142 PubMed records, exactly one tagged as a clinical trial and none as a randomised controlled trial. The headline telomere result is measured in human cell lines rather than in people, and much of the wider literature is Russian-language from a single research tradition that has not been independently replicated.
US status:: Research use only. Not approved for human use and sold as a research chemical.

The full picture, with every study: Epitalon guide.

Units per dose: Epitalon 10 mg vial

Water added	Concentration	1 unit =	5 mg	7.5 mg	10 mg
1 mL	10 mg/mL	100 mcg	50 units	75 units	100 units

U-100 insulin syringe (100 units = 1 mL), to the nearest half unit. Water volumes are examples. Other numbers: dosage calculator.

Every dose from 5 mg to 10 mg, in units

With 1 mL of water in a 10 mg vial (10 mg/mL). Every dose across the common range, so you can read off any dose. The sources give a range, not a week-by-week schedule.

Dose	Draw on a U-100 syringe	Volume	Doses per vial
5 mg	50 units	0.5 mL	2
6 mg	60 units	0.6 mL	1
7 mg	70 units	0.7 mL	1
8 mg	80 units	0.8 mL	1
9 mg	90 units	0.9 mL	1
10 mg	100 units	1 mL	1

How many doses a 10 mg vial holds

Dose	Doses per vial	Weeks per vial
5 mg	2	0.3
7.5 mg	1	0.1
10 mg	1	0.1

Weeks per vial at the common frequency (once nightly, every night, for the length of the cycle). Doses per vial do not depend on how much water you add.

Email me my Epitalon 10 mg vial plan

Pick your water volume and dose and I will email you the numbers for this vial - units, volume, doses per vial and how long it lasts - plus the mixing and storage steps, and a reminder before the mixed vial reaches 28 days.

The common Epitalon protocol

Dose	5-10 mg per injection
How often	once nightly, every night, for the length of the cycle
Timing	Before bed, at least two hours after the last meal.
Route	Subcutaneous injection
Cycle	1.4-2.9 weeks
Break	17-26 weeks
Often paired with	GHK-Cu
Sources agree?	Partly - the sources differ, and the ranges above cover them

Common practice from the vendors and clinics that publish it, not a dose tested in trials. Where it comes from: [1], [2]. I do not give week-by-week titration: none of these sources states one.

Supplies for one cycle with 10 mg vials

Counted for the low and high ends of the common protocol, mixing each vial with 1 mL of water. One new syringe per injection.

Plan	Injections	10 mg vials	Insulin syringes	Bacteriostatic water	Alcohol swabs
5 mg, 7×/week, 1.4 weeks	10	5	10	5 mL (1 × 10 mL bottle)	30 (1 × 100-pack)
10 mg, 7×/week, 2.9 weeks	21	21	21	21 mL (3 × 10 mL bottles)	84 (1 × 100-pack)

Arithmetic on the protocol and this vial size. Swabs: two per vial mixed (both stoppers) and two per injection (vial stopper and skin). An opened multi-dose vial has a use-by date (see storage), which on a slow schedule can matter more than the dose count. Plan your own numbers with the protocol builder.

How to mix a 10 mg Epitalon vial

For this vial: 1 mL of bacteriostatic water makes 10 mg/mL, so 7.5 mg is 75 units (0.75 mL) on a U-100 insulin syringe. Pick a different volume from the units table if you want bigger or smaller draws; the number of doses stays the same.

Wipe the rubber stoppers of both the peptide vial and the bacteriostatic water vial with an alcohol swab and let the alcohol dry. ^[3][4]
With a new sterile needle and syringe, draw up the amount of bacteriostatic water you have chosen for the dilution. ^[3][4][5]
Inject the water into the peptide vial by aiming the stream against the inside glass wall, which helps prevent foaming. ^[6]
Swirl or roll the vial gently until the powder has fully dissolved; do not shake it. Do not inject the solution if it is cloudy or has particles in it. ^[3][4][6]
Label the vial with the date and time it was mixed, the amount of water added and how long it can be used after mixing. ^[3]
Store the mixed vial in the refrigerator at 2-8°C (36-46°F) and do not freeze it. ^[6]

Step by step with pictures: how to reconstitute peptides. About the water itself: bacteriostatic water.

Storing Epitalon vials

Freeze-dried (lyophilized) peptide keeps far longer than peptide in solution; peptide suppliers advise storing the powder at -20°C away from bright light. ^[7]
Protect peptide vials from heat and light. ^[7][8]
Avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles; a prescription peptide label also says not to freeze a vial once it has been mixed. ^[6][7]
Once a multi-dose vial, such as bacteriostatic water, has been opened (needle-punctured), date it and discard it within 28 days unless its manufacturer states another date. ^[9][10]

More detail: peptide storage and shelf life.

Injecting safely

Clean the injection site with an alcohol swab and let the skin dry completely before injecting. ^[11][12]
Pinch up a fold of skin and fat (not muscle) and insert the needle at a 45- to 90-degree angle: 90 degrees where there is enough fatty tissue, 45 degrees where there is little. ^[11][12][13]
Pulling back on the plunger (aspiration) is not necessary for a subcutaneous injection, because the chance of the needle being in a blood vessel is small. ^[11]
Inject slowly, at roughly 10 seconds per mL. ^[11]
Common sites are the belly, the thigh and the upper arm; rotate sites, keeping each injection at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the last. ^[6][11][12]

Hygiene and warning signs

Use a new sterile needle and syringe for every injection and every time you enter a vial; never reuse them. ^[5][9][12]
Never share needles, syringes or pens with anyone, even if the needle is changed; unsafe injection practices spread hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. ^[5][8][9]
Put used needles and syringes in a sharps disposal container straight away (FDA-cleared if possible), never loose in the trash, recycling or toilet, and dispose of the container following your community's guidelines. ^[14][15]
Contact a health care provider if the injection site shows signs of infection, such as redness, swelling, red streaks or a fever. ^[12]

Where to inject: subcutaneous injection sites.

How Epitalon works

Epitalon is a synthetic four-amino-acid peptide, Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG), designed from the amino-acid composition of Epithalamin, an extract of bovine pineal gland, within the Russian peptide-bioregulator programme. ^[16][17]
Its best-known proposed action is on telomerase. Added to human fetal fibroblasts that normally lack the enzyme, it switched on telomerase's catalytic subunit and lengthened telomeres (2003), and a 2025 study found dose-dependent telomere lengthening through hTERT and telomerase upregulation in normal human epithelial cells and fibroblasts. ^[18][19]
Fluorescently labelled Epitalon entered the nucleus of cultured HeLa cells and, in test-tube experiments, bound preferentially to certain DNA sequences, which its developers propose as a way of regulating gene activity. ^[20]
A 2025 review lists antioxidant effects, melatonin synthesis and enzyme activation among its reported actions, and says it remains uncertain whether these are its only mechanisms. ^[16]

What the Epitalon research found

Human evidence: animal / lab only. Each result says what was studied.

Lab studyThe 2025 cell study also found Epitalon lengthened telomeres in breast cancer cell lines, there through ALT (alternative lengthening of telomeres) activation, a pathway it only slightly activated in normal cells. ^[19]
Animal studyIn a 2003 study of female mice (54 per group) injected for five days each month from 3 months of age until death, Epitalon did not change mean lifespan, but raised maximum lifespan by 12.3% and cut leukaemia six-fold; total tumour incidence was unchanged. ^[21]
Animal studyAdding Epitalon to fruit-fly culture medium only during development increased adult lifespan by 11-16%, a 2000 study reported. ^[22]
Animal studyMelatonin results conflict. Epitalon increased evening melatonin in ageing female rhesus monkeys (2001), but a 2003 study in Paris found it had no effect on melatonin secretion from young or old rat pineal glands in the laboratory. ^[23][24]
Human studyA 2002 report by the developers stated that Epitalon produced a positive clinical effect in 90% of patients with degenerative retinal disease. The abstract gives no patient numbers and does not describe a comparison group. ^[25]
Human studyA 2007 Russian-language report stated that Epitalon and Epithalamin raised night-time melatonin in elderly people with reduced pineal function. The abstract gives no participant numbers. ^[26]

Epitalon side effects and risks

I found no controlled human trial that has published systematic safety data for Epitalon; what exists is animal work and brief statements in developer reports.

Animal studyIn the lifelong 2003 mouse study, Epitalon did not affect food consumption or body weight, and the authors concluded that long-term use was safe in mice. ^[21]
Animal studyIn a 2006 study, one-year-old female mice injected five times a week for 6.5 months showed no toxic effects. ^[27]
Animal studyIn old rats, Epitalon (AEDG) lowered glomerular filtration rate, a measure of kidney filtering, by 21% and reduced urine protein; the authors reported no signs of kidney toxicity. ^[28]
Human studyThe 2007 Russian-language report states that the pineal preparations had no side effects in elderly people, but its abstract gives no adverse-event data. ^[26]

Other things to know

The telomere finding the marketing depends on was measured in cultured cell lines, not in humans.
Longer telomere length is not an established health benefit; the relationship between telomere length and health outcomes is contested.
No randomised trial exists, so no dose has any research behind it.

Reported side effects and what the studies measured: Epitalon side effects.

Where this vial size comes from

Epitalon is sold as a 10 mg vial by the pages below, each checked on the date shown. I list them as evidence that this size exists, not as a recommendation to buy from them.

Next Level PharmvendorLists it as: Size dropdown options: 10mg / 50mg · checked 2026-09-28
SwissChemsvendorLists it as: "Epitalon, 10mg" vial · checked 2026-09-28

The doses come from the sourced common protocol on the Epitalon dosing page, and every number on this page is arithmetic on those doses and this vial size.

Other Epitalon vial sizes

Where to buy Epitalon for research

Sold for research use only. Listed by Next Level Pharm, Spartan Peptides and BioEdge Research Labs; compare them on my vendors page or see the listing on the Epitalon page.

Questions

How much water do I add to a 10 mg Epitalon vial?: There is no single correct amount: water changes how many units a dose is, not how many doses the vial holds. With 1 mL the vial is 10 mg/mL and 7.5 mg is 75 units (0.75 mL) on a U-100 insulin syringe. The units table gives 1 mL.
How many doses are in a 10 mg Epitalon vial?: 2 doses at 5 mg, 1 dose at 7.5 mg, 1 dose at 10 mg.
How long does a 10 mg Epitalon vial last?: At 7.5 mg a dose and once nightly, about 0.1 weeks. How long a mixed vial keeps is a separate limit; see storage below.
How many 10 mg vials do I need for a cycle?: 5 vials at 5 mg 7 times a week for 1.4 weeks; 21 vials at 10 mg 7 times a week for 2.9 weeks.
What does 1 unit equal in a 10 mg Epitalon vial?: 100 mcg with 1 mL of bacteriostatic water, on a U-100 syringe.

References (28 sources)

[1] PerfectB: 10 mg (20 units) SC nightly, 10-day cycle, 4-month minimum break, up to 3 cycles/year, two 50mg vials per cycle, pairs with GHK-Cu (clinic, checked 2026-09-27)
[2] PeptidesExplorer: 5-10 mg SC once daily, 10-20 day cycles, 1-2x/year, 4-6 month break between courses, 10/20/50mg vials (other, checked 2026-09-27)
[3] OpenStax, Rice University: 12.3 Preparing Unit-Dose Packaged Medications - Clinical Nursing Skills
[4] East Carolina University College of Nursing: Reconstitution of Medication
[5] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Considerations for Blood Glucose Monitoring and Insulin Administration
[6] DailyMed, National Library of Medicine: SEROSTIM (somatropin) for injection - prescribing information and instructions for use
[7] GenScript: Peptide Storage and Handling Guidelines
[8] DailyMed, National Library of Medicine: OZEMPIC (semaglutide) injection - prescribing information
[9] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Preventing Unsafe Injection Practices
[10] Pfizer: Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP - prescribing information
[11] OpenStax, Rice University: 12.5 Administering Subcutaneous Injections - Clinical Nursing Skills
[12] MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine: Subcutaneous (SQ) injections
[13] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Chapter 6: Vaccine Administration - Pink Book
[14] US Food and Drug Administration: Best Way to Get Rid of Used Needles and Other Sharps
[15] US Food and Drug Administration: DOs and DON'Ts of Proper Sharps Disposal
[16] Araj SK, Brzezik J, Mądra-Gackowska K et al. Overview of Epitalon-Highly Bioactive Pineal Tetrapeptide with Promising Properties. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(6).
[17] Khavinson VKh. Peptides and Ageing. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2002;23 Suppl 3:11-144.
[18] Khavinson VKh, Bondarev IE, Butyugov AA. Epithalon peptide induces telomerase activity and telomere elongation in human somatic cells. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2003;135(6):590-2.
[19] Al-Dulaimi S, Thomas R, Matta S et al. Epitalon increases telomere length in human cell lines through telomerase upregulation or ALT activity. Biogerontology. 2025;26(5):178.
[20] Fedoreyeva LI, Kireev II, Khavinson VKh et al. Penetration of short fluorescence-labeled peptides into the nucleus in HeLa cells and in vitro specific interaction of the peptides with deoxyribooligonucleotides and DNA. Biochemistry (Mosc). 2011;76(11):1210-9.
[21] Anisimov VN, Khavinson VKh, Popovich IG et al. Effect of Epitalon on biomarkers of aging, life span and spontaneous tumor incidence in female Swiss-derived SHR mice. Biogerontology. 2003;4(4):193-202.
[22] Khavinson VK, Izmaylov DM, Obukhova LK et al. Effect of epitalon on the lifespan increase in Drosophila melanogaster. Mech Ageing Dev. 2000;120(1-3):141-9.
[23] Khavinson V, Goncharova N, Lapin B. Synthetic tetrapeptide epitalon restores disturbed neuroendocrine regulation in senescent monkeys. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2001;22(4):251-4.
[24] Djeridane Y, Khavinson VKh, Anisimov VN et al. Effect of a synthetic pineal tetrapeptide (Ala-Glu-Asp-GLy) on melatonin secretion by the pineal gland of young and old rats. J Endocrinol Invest. 2003;26(3):211-5.
[25] Khavinson V, Razumovsky M, Trofimova S et al. Pineal-regulating tetrapeptide epitalon improves eye retina condition in retinitis pigmentosa. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2002;23(4):365-8.
[26] Korkushko OV, Lapin BA, Goncharova ND et al. [Normalizing effect of the pineal gland peptides on the daily melatonin rhythm in old monkeys and elderly people]. Adv Gerontol. 2007;20(1):74-85.
[27] Kossoy G, Anisimov VN, Ben-Hur H et al. Effect of the synthetic pineal peptide epitalon on spontaneous carcinogenesis in female C3H/He mice. In Vivo. 2006;20(2):253-7.
[28] Zamorskii II, Shchudrova TS, Zeleniuk VG et al. [The influence of peptides on the morphofunctional state of old rats kidneys.]. Adv Gerontol. 2018;31(4):498-504.