Kisspeptin-54 dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
Good human studies, all about ripening eggs for IVF. In 60 women at high risk of dangerous ovary swelling, eggs ripened in 95%, and nobody got moderate or worse swelling. Given over and over, it stops working. A controlled study found it did nothing for anxiety. In adult male rats, long-term shots damaged the testes.
Evidence grade for Kisspeptin-54: Moderate. The rule: at least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. The sum on this page: 5 completed trials, 122 people given it. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 122
- Human studies
- 5
- Found nothing
- 1
Dose
No human dose established
Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose.
5 completed trials, 122 people given it
8 effects reported, 5 unwanted, 3 wanted, by people using it, not a trial
Goal pages: Brain, memory and mood, Sleep
In plain English
In plain English, from Aaron
This is how I would explain it to a friend. The evidence, with the numbers, is further down the page.
Kisspeptin-54 tells your brain to release the hormone that starts the whole sex hormone chain. One shot causes a surge of LH, the signal that tells the ovaries to release an egg or the testes to make testosterone. It is the full length version of a hormone your body already makes. It is not approved anywhere. The best evidence for it is in IVF clinics, and it is very good evidence for one narrow job.
What people take it for
- Raising testosterone the natural way in men.
- More sex drive.
- Fertility, either in IVF or after a steroid cycle.
- Less anxiety and a better mood.
What studies in people showed
The IVF work is real, and it was done properly. Doctors in London gave one shot to 60 women who were at high risk of a dangerous over response to IVF drugs. It matured the eggs in 95 percent of them. Across 51 embryo transfers, 63 percent got pregnant on a blood test, 53 percent had a pregnancy on a scan, and 45 percent had a live baby. Not one woman got a moderate or severe over response. A second trial of 62 women found a second shot ten hours later gave more eggs. That is the good news, and it is only about IVF. Now the other side. When women got it over and over, the response faded. That was the title of the study. A 2025 trial with a dummy group gave it to people and measured anxiety. Hormones went up. Anxiety did not change. A 2025 study showed a nose spray version also raises the hormones. And in adult male rats, daily shots under the skin damaged the testes. That is rats, not men, but it is the exact way men use it. No trial has ever measured sex drive, muscle, memory or focus with this peptide.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- A bump in sex drive for a day or so after a shot.
- Some men report higher LH or testosterone on blood work after a short run.
- A better mood on the day of the dose.
The bad
- Hot flushes and a red face after a shot.
- Headaches and nausea.
- It fades. Users say daily shots stop doing anything after a few weeks. The trial record agrees with them.
- Nobody has checked what daily shots do to the testes in men. In rats it was damage.
- Grey market vials of unknown strength.
Where these come from: The fade is from the trial on this page and matches what users say. The rat testes finding is from an animal study on this page. The flushes, headaches, sex drive and blood work reports are user reports from r/Peptides and steroid forums, not from any trial.
My bottom line
In an IVF clinic, in one shot, this is the real thing. Sold to men as a daily testosterone booster, it fades in weeks, the one mood trial came back empty, and the rat study is a warning. I would not use it that way.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
Measured in people
Goals Kisspeptin-54 has been tested for in people, biggest studies first. We count only what the studies on this page say, so the real numbers may be higher.
- Mood and anxietyno headcount stated · 1 study · 1 found nothing
- Memory and thinkingno headcount stated · 1 study
What people using it report
Real people telling you what happened to them. Nobody checked it, and the people who post are not a fair sample, so it cannot prove anything works. It is still the best guide on this page to what people actually do with Kisspeptin-54, what they expect, and what goes wrong. The full account, including the negative reports, is below.
31 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind Kisspeptin-54
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove Kisspeptin-54 does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about Kisspeptin-54 and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is Kisspeptin-54?
Good human studies, all about ripening eggs for IVF. In 60 women at high risk of dangerous ovary swelling, eggs ripened in 95%, and nobody got moderate or worse swelling. Given over and over, it stops working. A controlled study found it did nothing for anxiety. In adult male rats, long-term shots damaged the testes.
Kisspeptin-54 has good human evidence. That evidence points somewhere very specific, and it has almost nothing to do with how it is sold.
It is a 54-building-block peptide made from the KISS1 gene. It works in the brain, above the cells that start the chain of sex hormones. Give it to a person and luteinising hormone (LH) goes up. LH is the signal that tells the ovaries and testes to work. That rise is not a guess. It has been measured directly, again and again, in published controlled studies.
The work that matters was done at Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital. Doctors used kisspeptin-54 to ripen eggs before IVF, in women at high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). OHSS is a dangerous swelling of the ovaries, so this is a real problem with real stakes. The results were good. In an early study of 60 of these women, eggs ripened in 95%. Across all doses and 51 embryo transfers, 63% had a positive pregnancy test, 53% had a pregnancy seen on a scan, and 45% had a baby. No woman got moderate or worse OHSS. A follow-up study of 62 women found that a second dose ten hours later got more ripe eggs.
Three published findings cut against the way kisspeptin is sold.
First, given over and over, it stops working. The response fades. This was shown in women whose periods had stopped because of a signalling problem in the brain. It is the main problem for anyone thinking of regular use.
Second, a controlled study in 2025 gave people kisspeptin and measured anxiety. Sex hormones rose. Anxiety did not change.
Third, in adult male rats, long-term shots of kisspeptin-54 under the skin damaged the testes. That is an animal result, and we label it as one. But it tests the exact pattern people describe using: repeated shots under the skin, in males.
How does Kisspeptin-54 work?
Shown in people, not just guessed. Kisspeptin-54 locks onto a receptor called KISS1R on the brain cells that release GnRH, the master switch for sex hormones. That makes the pituitary gland release LH and FSH, the two hormones that drive the ovaries and testes. The LH rise has been measured in people after a shot under the skin, a drip into a vein, and a nasal spray. One shot under the skin gives an LH surge the researchers say lasts about half a day. Keep the receptor switched on all the time and it goes numb. That is why regular dosing makes the effect fade instead of lasting.
What have studies in people found about Kisspeptin-54?
Plenty of controlled human studies, almost all about fertility hormones. They measured egg numbers, pregnancy rates and LH. The one mood measure ever tested, anxiety, showed no change.
- 62 women at high risk of OHSS, with the women, doctors and lab staff all kept in the dark about who got what: a second dose ten hours later gave more ripe eggs than salt water. The registry (NCT01667406) lists the program as finished, with 175 people in all.
- 60 women at high risk of OHSS: eggs ripened in 95%. Across 51 embryo transfers, 45% ended in a baby. No woman got moderate or worse OHSS.
- Women whose periods had stopped because of a brain signalling problem: one shot under the skin raised the hormones, but repeated shots made the response fade. Shots twice a week for 8 weeks raised sex hormones (PMID 20980998). A drip into a vein made LH come in more pulses (PMID 24517142).
- A controlled study from 2025: sex hormones rose, anxiety did not change.
- A controlled study from 2025: a nasal spray quickly raised the hormones that drive the ovaries and testes.
- No kisspeptin-54 study has tested thinking. None has measured sex drive, mood as its main goal, or body fat and muscle.
What this does not tell you: These studies answer one narrow question well. They say nothing about the uses kisspeptin is sold for. They were done in women, mostly women having IVF or whose periods had stopped, at doses set to trigger one egg release. There is no data on men taking it again and again, none on body fat or muscle, and none on sex drive. The one mood test came back empty. Because the effect fades with repeat use, something that works once may not work the tenth time. None of the IVF work used repeated long-term dosing.
What do people who took Kisspeptin-54 report?
This is what real people say happened to them, good and bad. Nobody measured it. A report cannot tell a real effect from the lift people get just from expecting it to work, from a diet or training change made at the same time, or from what was really in the vial. We still put it near the top. It is the next best thing to a study in people: what happens when real people use it, including what goes wrong.
- Almost all of the discussion is about the ten amino acid form rather than the 54 amino acid one, and where the longer form appears at all it is people converting published infusion rates into something injectable. Anyone reading these threads as reports about kisspeptin-54 specifically would be reading something that is not there.
- The dose most commonly described is around 100 mcg as a shot under the skin once a day, with some people moving to twice daily. The figure people cite as the basis for it is roughly one microgram per kilogram, taken from published research rather than from any prescribing information.
- What people describe wanting from it is libido and drive. The accounts that exist are subjective and short, and one report of a large rise in total testosterone over a month came from someone simultaneously using testosterone and two growth hormone peptides, which that person stated themselves, so nothing in it isolates this compound.
- Reports of nothing noticeable are present, particularly from men already on testosterone replacement.
- The concerns raised are theories rather than things people went through. One is that the body stops responding with daily use. The other is questions about blood vessels carried over from animal work. Short term side effects are barely mentioned at all. In a group that chose to post, that is an absence of complaints, not proof of safety.
- Sourcing dominates the practical discussion. It is described as unavailable through compounding pharmacies in the United States, which pushes people toward research chemical suppliers, and purity, sterility and vendor choice are the recurring worries.
Sources: Kisspeptin dosing and practical guide threads on ExcelMale, found by site-restricted search and read directly, September 2026. Nothing above is attributed to any specific post and no post is reproduced.
The state of the research
There are two honest ways to describe kisspeptin-54, and they sound like opposite answers.
The first is that it works. It was built to ripen eggs in women at high risk of OHSS. Eggs ripened in 95% of them, babies were born, and not one woman got moderate or worse OHSS. These women were picked because they were at high risk of exactly that. That is a real result on a real outcome, and it is why the Imperial team kept going.
The second is that none of it carries over. Kisspeptin is sold to men as a hormone or sex drive compound. No published human study has tested that. What the record does hold is a controlled study where a mood measure came back empty, proof that the effect fades with regular use, and a rat study where long-term shots under the skin damaged the testes of adult males.
A real test of thinking means a proper test of memory, attention, speed or planning. You take it before and after, and you are compared with a group who got a dummy and did not know it. None of the seven compounds in this group has ever been tested that way. Scores for tiredness, anxiety, hunger or a doctor's overall impression are not thinking tests. Neither is a hormone level. This matters because several of these compounds are sold for focus, clarity and mental energy, and the studies behind them measured none of those things.
On money: university researchers at Imperial College London ran this work. No company was trying to get it approved. That is why good early results never led to a large final-stage study. It explains why the evidence stops where it does. It is not a verdict on the compound.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
122people, across 2 studies in people cited here
| Study | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Human Reproduction 2017 | 62 | 51% |
| The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2015 | 60 | 49% |
One study holds 51% of these people, so the total rests more on one study than its size suggests. Counts are the number of people each study on this page says it signed up. That includes studies that only watched people and gave nobody the compound. 3 more studies in people give no headcount and are not counted here. Studies still signing people up are left out, and only studies cited on this page are counted.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
5 of 6 sources here are studies in people. The rest is not.
- Study in people · done in people583%
- Animal study · done in animals117%
Counted from the list of sources on this page. It counts only what we cite, so there may be more studies out there. A review counts once, however many studies it sums up.
Fig. 2 · evidence over time
The studies cover 5 different years, 2006 to 2025, counted from the list of sources on this page.
Fig. 3 · legal status at a glance
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
AU
Not approved
CA
Not approved
Not approved in any of the four countries shown. This is what the law says, not a verdict on the science. See Legal status below for the full text and any notes.
Fig. 4 · how much does what
Nobody has tested different amounts in people
This chart would show how the effect changes as the amount goes up. For this compound, nobody has measured that in people. So we leave it empty. We will not borrow an animal chart and pretend it works the same in people.
Fig. 5 · what the molecule is
- Kind of compound
- Peptide
- Molecule weight
- A 54 residue peptide, roughly 6 kDa.
- Half-life
- Stated in words, not a numbersee the exact wording below
- Chain length
- 54 amino acidscounted from the chain below
Half-life as stated on file: No human pharmacokinetic curve is asserted here because none was resolved in this pass. What the trials report instead is the downstream effect: a single subcutaneous dose produces a luteinising hormone surge the investigators describe as lasting roughly half a day, which is a pharmacodynamic duration and not a plasma half-life.
GTSLSPPPESSGSPQQPGLSAPHSRQIPAPQGAVLVQREKDLPNYNWNSFGLRF
- Water-shy 28
- Water-loving 18
- Acidic 3
- Basic 5
One square per amino acid, left to right from the start of the chain, coloured by type. The type is a fact about the amino acid, not a finding about this compound.
The studies we cite
- Study in people2015Efficacy of Kisspeptin-54 to Trigger Oocyte Maturation in Women at High Risk of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) During In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Therapy
Kisspeptin did the job it was given, and none of the women suffered the complication it was meant to prevent. 60 women at high risk of dangerous ovarian swelling used it to ripen their eggs before IVF. Eggs ripened in 95 out of every 100 women. Across all doses, a little under half of the embryo transfers ended in a live birth. Nobody got moderate or severe swelling. There was no comparison group here, so read the pregnancy figures as description, not proof.
Phase 2, multi-dose, open-label, randomised, 60 women at high risk of OHSS, Hammersmith Hospital, 2013 to 2014. Adaptive dose allocation across 3.2 nmol/kg (n=5), 6.4 (n=20), 9.6 (n=15) and 12.8 (n=20). Oocyte maturation occurred in 95% of women. Highest oocyte yield, 121%, followed the 12.8 nmol/kg dose. Across all doses and 51 transfers, biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were 63%, 53% and 45%. No woman developed moderate, severe or critical OHSS.
- Study in people2017A second dose of kisspeptin-54 improves oocyte maturation in women at high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome: a Phase 2 randomized controlled trial
A second dose ripened more eggs than a single dose did. 62 women aged 18 to 34 at high risk of dangerous ovarian swelling all got kisspeptin before their eggs were collected. Ten hours later, half got a second dose and half got salt water. The women, their doctors and the laboratory staff were all kept in the dark about which. The ones given the second dose produced more ripe eggs.
Phase 2 randomised placebo-controlled, 62 women aged 18 to 34 at high risk of OHSS. All received kisspeptin-54 at 9.6 nmol/kg 36 hours before retrieval, then were randomised 1:1 to a second dose (n=31) or saline (n=31) ten hours later. Patients, embryologists and clinicians remained blinded. The second dose improved oocyte yield. Registered as NCT01667406, which the registry lists as COMPLETED with 175 participants actual across the programme.
- Study in people2009Subcutaneous injection of kisspeptin-54 acutely stimulates gonadotropin secretion in women with hypothalamic amenorrhea, but chronic administration causes tachyphylaxis
Kisspeptin works the first time and stops working if you keep giving it. In women whose periods had stopped because of a signalling failure in the brain, one shot under the skin lifted the hormones that drive the ovaries. Given over and over, the response faded away. That is the single most important fact for anyone thinking about regular dosing, and the paper puts it in its own title.
The single most important limitation for anyone considering repeated dosing, and it is in the title. Acute subcutaneous injection stimulates gonadotropin secretion in women with hypothalamic amenorrhoea; chronic administration causes tachyphylaxis, meaning the response diminishes with continued exposure.
- Study in people2025Kisspeptin Administration Stimulates Reproductive Hormones but Does Not Affect Anxiety in Humans
Kisspeptin did not touch anxiety. People were given either kisspeptin or a dummy, and their reproductive hormones rose just as expected. Their anxiety did not change at all. This is about the only study in the whole kisspeptin field that measured something psychological rather than a hormone level, and the answer it came back with was no.
A clean randomised controlled negative on a behavioural endpoint. Kisspeptin administration raised reproductive hormones as expected and did not affect anxiety. This is the closest the kisspeptin literature comes to a psychological outcome measure, and the result was null.
- Study in people2025Intranasal kisspeptin administration rapidly stimulates gonadotropin release in humans
A nasal spray version works, at least on hormones. In a controlled study, kisspeptin sprayed up the nose quickly raised the hormones that drive the ovaries and testes. That matters, because it shows an injection is not the only way in. Note what was measured. A hormone level in the blood. Nothing about how anyone felt, thought or performed was tested here.
A randomised controlled study extending the route: intranasal kisspeptin rapidly stimulated gonadotropin release in humans. Relevant because it establishes that a non-injected route works, and it still measures gonadotropins rather than any behavioural or cognitive outcome.
- Animal study2006Chronic subcutaneous administration of kisspeptin-54 causes testicular degeneration in adult male rats
In adult male rats. Long-term shots of kisspeptin-54 under the skin damaged the testes. The route, the repeat dosing and the sex all match how people describe using it, which is why this rat result is here and not left out.
Adult male rats, not humans. Chronic subcutaneous kisspeptin-54 caused testicular degeneration. The route, the dosing pattern and the sex all match the way kisspeptin is described in consumer settings, which is why this animal finding is reported here rather than left out.
Where to buy Kisspeptin-54
No seller we track lists Kisspeptin-54 yet. We read sellers’ public product lists every week, and this section fills in as soon as one does. Every seller, graded
Common questions
Has Kisspeptin-54 been tested in people?
Yes. 122 people given it across 5 completed trials cited here, 1 of which found nothing. Good human studies, all about ripening eggs for IVF. In 60 women at high risk of dangerous ovary swelling, eggs ripened in 95%, and nobody got moderate or worse swelling. Given over and over, it stops working. A controlled study found it did nothing for anxiety. In adult male rats, long-term shots damaged the testes.
What is the Kisspeptin-54 dosage?
No human dose established. Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose. 5 completed trials, 122 people given it
Is Kisspeptin-54 FDA-approved?
Investigational. No approved kisspeptin product exists in any country. The work using it to trigger egg release in IVF is still in mid-stage studies. It has not moved on to the final-stage studies that could lead to approval.
What is the difference between kisspeptin-54 and kisspeptin-10?
They come from the same parent protein. The KISS1 gene makes a chain, and the 54-block piece, also called metastin, sits at positions 68 to 121. Shorter pieces sit at 108 to 121, 109 to 121 and 112 to 121. Kisspeptin-10 is that last, shortest piece, YNWNSFGLRF, and it is the one usually sold. The IVF studies used kisspeptin-54, not kisspeptin-10. So the egg and birth numbers belong to the longer peptide.
Does kisspeptin raise testosterone or libido in men?
It raises LH, the hormone that tells the testes to make testosterone. Studies in people measure that rise directly. Whether it turns into a real testosterone or sex drive change in men over time has never been tested in a published study. The only mood test anyone has run, on anxiety, found nothing. Anyone telling you the sex drive question is settled is describing how it might work, not a result.
Can I take it every day?
The published evidence says no. Given over and over, the hormone response fades, and the study that showed this says so in its title. Separately, long-term shots under the skin damaged the testes of adult male rats. Neither point proves what daily use does in people, because nobody has run that study. But both point the same way.
Is it approved anywhere?
No. There is no approved kisspeptin product anywhere. Strong early results were never followed by a large final-stage study, mostly because university researchers, not a company, did the work.
Does kisspeptin do anything for mood or focus?
No controlled study has measured focus, attention, memory or any thinking skill with kisspeptin. The one mood measure tested in a controlled study was anxiety. It did not change, even as sex hormones rose.