Neurotensin dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
Neurotensin is a small 13-building-block peptide your body makes. It eases pain in rodents. No human study has tested pain or thinking. The human drip studies that exist measured the gut: the colon worked much harder, and patients passed a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the drip stopped.
Evidence grade for Neurotensin: Limited. The rule: people have taken it in a published study, but fewer than 100 of them. The sum on this page: 1 completed trial, 6 people given it. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 6
- Human studies
- 1
- 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.
1 completed trial, 6 people given it
No first-hand reports gathered yet. That is a gap in what we have collected, not a finding that nothing has been reported.
Goal pages: Brain, memory and mood
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.
Neurotensin is a small peptide your body makes. Brain researchers study it for pain and mood. Some peptide shops sell it for pain. It barely gets from the blood into the brain.
What people take it for
- Pain relief.
- Better mood.
What studies in people showed
No human study has tested pain, mood or thinking. The only human studies are gut studies from the 1980s. In one, 6 healthy people and 7 patients got a 30-minute drip. Their bowels got much more active, and everyone felt their insides moving. The patients passed a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the drip stopped. The pain relief is only in rodents, with the peptide put straight into the brain.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- We have not collected user reports on this one yet.
The bad
- In the human drip study, everyone felt their bowels moving, and patients passed a lot of bowel contents soon after.
Where these come from: The bad line is from the human drip study on this page. We have not collected user reports on this one yet.
My bottom line
Every human study of this measured the gut. If you want pain relief, this is the wrong tool. Get the pain properly checked instead.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
Measured in people
Goals Neurotensin 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.
- Memory and thinkingno headcount stated · 1 study
35 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind Neurotensin
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove Neurotensin does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about Neurotensin and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is Neurotensin?
Neurotensin is a small 13-building-block peptide your body makes. It eases pain in rodents. No human study has tested pain or thinking. The human drip studies that exist measured the gut: the colon worked much harder, and patients passed a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the drip stopped.
Neurotensin is a 13-building-block peptide the body makes. It is cut from a larger protein that also makes a second peptide, neuromedin N. In animal brain research it is real and well studied. It has been linked to pain relief, body temperature, blood pressure and schizophrenia.
It shows up in peptide shops as a pain or mood compound. The human record supports neither.
What people have actually been given is gut research from the 1980s. Neurotensin was dripped into the veins of healthy volunteers and patients to see what the gut did. The colon squeezed much more. The upper small bowel switched from its fasting pattern to its after-a-meal pattern. Pressure at the bottom of the food pipe changed. Blood flow in fat tissue went up. In the colon study, every person felt their insides moving. The patients passed a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the drip stopped. That is the clearest picture of what neurotensin in a vein does to a person.
The pain work is all in rodents. The field has mostly moved away from the peptide itself for two reasons. Neurotensin barely gets from the blood into the brain. And in animals, turning on its main receptor, NTSR1, also drops blood pressure and body temperature. So researchers now build new molecules that do reach the brain and try to split the pain relief from those problems. A 2025 paper in the journal Cell, on one of these new molecules, eased short and long-term pain. That is rodent work, on a different molecule.
A search of ClinicalTrials.gov finds no study giving neurotensin, or a drug that acts like it, for pain.
How does Neurotensin work?
Only a guess for the uses it is sold for, and proven for the ones it is not. Neurotensin acts on receptors called NTSR1 and NTSR2, plus a third one, NTSR3. In rodents, turning on NTSR1 inside the brain eases pain. It also drops blood pressure and body temperature, and that pairing has blocked drug development. In people, drips into a vein clearly change gut movement and blood flow. The key delivery fact: neurotensin barely gets from the blood into the brain. So a shot or drip cannot reach the brain receptors the pain idea depends on.
What have studies in people found about Neurotensin?
Neurotensin has been given to people, in a handful of gut studies from the 1980s. None of them measured pain, mood or thinking.
- Six healthy volunteers and seven patients got a 30-minute drip at 12 pmol/kg per minute. Colon activity jumped, from 870 to 4500 on an activity score in one section. Everyone felt their insides moving. The patients passed a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the drip.
- A drip of a close relative of neurotensin changed blood flow in human fat tissue.
- Other drip studies in people measured stomach and upper bowel movement and pressure at the bottom of the food pipe. All of them are gut measures.
- No study giving neurotensin, or a drug that acts like it, for pain is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- No human study of neurotensin has tested thinking, pain relief or mood.
- The only molecule at this receptor tested in people is a blocker, SR48692, studied in ovarian cancer (PMID 28790113). That is the opposite action, for a different disease.
What this does not tell you: These studies show that neurotensin in a vein has clear effects on a person's gut and blood vessels. They show nothing about the brain. Neurotensin barely reaches the brain from the blood, and none of these studies tried to measure a brain effect. There is no safety data for repeated doses, no clear data on how the body clears it, and no dose-finding work for any brain use.
The state of the research
Neurotensin shows a common mistake in peptide marketing. Take an important peptide your body makes, and treat that importance as proof that taking more of it does something.
Neurotensin really does matter in brain science. It works with dopamine, the brain's drive and reward chemical. There is real schizophrenia research on it. And it eases pain in rodents when put straight into the brain. None of that is in doubt here.
The problem is getting it there, and that is not a small detail. A peptide given by shot that cannot reach the brain cannot have a brain effect. The whole case for neurotensin as a pain or mood compound is a brain case. That is exactly why researchers spent the last ten years building new molecules that do reach the brain, instead of using the peptide. The 2025 Cell paper came from that work. It is rodent work, on a molecule that is not neurotensin.
There is a second reason the field moved on. In animals, turning on NTSR1 eases pain but also drops blood pressure and body temperature. Splitting those apart is the whole design problem. A pain claim on a shop page ignores both problems.
The human data that exist are not about any of this. They are about the colon.
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.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
6people, across 1 study in people cited here
| Study | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Gastroenterology 1986 | 6 | 100% |
The whole total is one study of 6. 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. 1 more study in people gives no headcount and is not counted here. Studies still signing people up are left out, and only studies cited on this page are counted.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
2 of 4 sources here are studies in people. The rest are not.
- Study in people · done in people250%
- Animal study · done in animals125%
- Review of studies · sums up other studies125%
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 4 different years, 1982 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 13 residue peptide, roughly 1.7 kDa.
- Half-life
- Stated in words, not a numbersee the exact wording below
- Chain length
- 13 amino acidscounted from the chain below
Half-life as stated on file: Very short in circulation, which is characteristic of small neuropeptides cleared rapidly by peptidases. No specific measured human figure is asserted here because none was resolved in this pass.
QLYENKPRRPYIL
- Water-shy 5
- Water-loving 4
- Acidic 1
- Basic 3
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 people1986Neurotensin increases colonic motility
Put neurotensin into a vein and the bowel starts moving. Six healthy volunteers and seven patients were given a half hour infusion. Contractions in the colon became far more frequent, and one stretch of gut became about five times more active than before. Everyone felt their insides moving. The patients passed a considerable volume of bowel contents around 20 minutes after the drip stopped. One part of the colon did not react at all.
What intravenous neurotensin does in a human. Six healthy volunteers (rectosigmoid) and seven patients (ascending colon and splenic flexure). Neurotensin at 12 pmol/kg per minute infused for 30 minutes increased contraction duration to 76% in the ascending colon and 46% in the rectosigmoid, with the motility index rising from 870 to 4500 in the ascending colon and from 332 to 1700 in the rectosigmoid. Motor activity did not change at the splenic flexure. All subjects reported increased sensation of intestinal movement, and the patients discharged a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the infusion stopped.
- Study in people1982Blood flow in human adipose tissue after infusion of (Gln4)-neurotensin
Nobody measured pain or mood in this one. A close relative of neurotensin was infused and the blood flow through fat tissue was measured. It is here because it is one of the very few experiments in which a human being was actually given this peptide. Like the rest of that small set, it looked at the body's machinery rather than at anything a person would notice or care about.
A second human infusion study, measuring regional blood flow in adipose tissue after a neurotensin analogue. Reported here because it is part of the small set of experiments in which neurotensin was actually given to human beings, and because like the rest of that set it measured peripheral physiology rather than pain or cognition.
- Review of studies2001The role of neurotensin in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs
A review of neurotensin and schizophrenia. The body's own neurotensin works with dopamine and may play a part in how antipsychotic drugs work. That is where its name as a brain peptide comes from. It is an idea about your own neurotensin, not evidence for taking it.
The review establishing neurotensin's place in schizophrenia research, where it is studied as an endogenous modulator interacting with dopamine systems and as a possible mediator of antipsychotic action. This is the basis of neurotensin's reputation as a CNS peptide, and it is a hypothesis about endogenous signalling rather than evidence for administering the peptide.
- Animal study2025Arrestin-biased allosteric modulator of neurotensin receptor 1 alleviates acute and chronic pain
In rodents, and not neurotensin. This is a new designed molecule that acts on the NTSR1 receptor. It was built to ease pain without the drop in blood pressure and body temperature, and it eased short and long-term pain. Crediting this to neurotensin itself would hand a designed drug's rodent result to the natural peptide.
Rodents, and not neurotensin. This is a biased allosteric modulator of NTSR1, a different molecule designed to separate analgesia from the hypotension and hypothermia that accompany conventional NTSR1 agonism. It is the current state of the field and it is preclinical. Citing it as evidence for neurotensin itself would attribute a designed small molecule's rodent result to the native peptide.
Where to buy Neurotensin
1 seller lists Neurotensin in our latest read. They are ranked by trust score, then by archive rating, then by certificate tier, then by the lowest price per milligram. Archive evidence is counted before source-backed. Each path is out of 4, and the two are not added. A higher price does not raise the score. The letter is the certificate chip. 0 of them have a published certificate that names Neurotensin.
Some seller links may pay this site when you buy through them. A payment never changes a seller's tier or rank, and no seller has a say in any page.
| Seller | Trust score | Vial sizes | From, per mg | Certificate for Neurotensin | Seller link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Molecules | 28 InsufficientSource-backed 1 of 4. Archive evidence 1 of 4.C | 10 mg | $110 | None found for Neurotensin | View |
- LC Lab-confirmed: the issuing laboratory echoed this certificate back
- A Current certificate, independent laboratory named, laboratory not yet checked
- B Certificate published, but no laboratory link, older than a year, or the laboratory did not recognise the published lookup
- C No certificate could be read
Every listing and vial size for Neurotensin · How the trust score is counted
Sellers named on the price pages are ranked by certificate tier, then price, and any affiliate income is disclosed there. Naming a seller is not a recommendation to buy or use anything.
Common questions
Has Neurotensin been tested in people?
Yes. 6 people given it across 1 completed trial cited here, 1 of which found nothing. Neurotensin is a small 13-building-block peptide your body makes. It eases pain in rodents. No human study has tested pain or thinking. The human drip studies that exist measured the gut: the colon worked much harder, and patients passed a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the drip stopped.
What is the Neurotensin 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. 1 completed trial, 6 people given it
Is Neurotensin FDA-approved?
Neurotensin is a peptide the body makes. It is not a medicine. No neurotensin product, and no drug that switches on its receptor, is approved in any country. No trial giving either one to people for pain is registered.
Does neurotensin relieve pain?
In rodents, when put straight into the brain, yes. In people, nobody has tested it. No study giving neurotensin, or a drug that acts like it, for pain is registered. The human studies where neurotensin was actually given measured gut movement and blood flow.
What happens if you inject neurotensin?
The answer from people is about the gut. In the one detailed drip study, the colon squeezed much more, everyone felt their insides moving, and the patients passed a median 600 mL of bowel contents 20 minutes after the drip stopped. That is what was measured in people, at 12 pmol/kg per minute for half an hour.
Why has no one developed neurotensin as a drug?
Two built-in problems. It barely gets from the blood into the brain, so a shot cannot reach the brain receptors the pain idea depends on. And in animals, turning on NTSR1 drops blood pressure and body temperature along with easing pain. The field's answer has been to design new molecules that reach the brain, instead of using the peptide.
Is there a neurotensin drug in trials?
Not one that turns the receptor on. The only molecule at this receptor tested in people is SR48692, which blocks NTSR1. It was studied in ovarian cancer, not pain or any brain condition. That is the opposite action, aimed at a different disease.
Does neurotensin do anything for focus or mood?
No controlled study has measured thinking or mood with neurotensin in people. Its name as a brain peptide comes from how the body's own neurotensin works with dopamine, and from schizophrenia research. That is an idea about what your own neurotensin does. It is not evidence about taking it.