Semax Reconstitution Calculator

No. Semax (Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro) is an approved pharmaceutical in Russia for ischemic stroke, marketed as intranasal solutions (0.1% and 1%) with clinical use spanning acute and rehabilitation phases; patient data date to the 1990s. It holds special-use BPOM licensing in Indonesia limited to hospital stroke care. It is not FDA-approved; elsewhere it exists only as an unregulated research peptide (clinical).

Intranasal (IN) is the clinically validated route. IN Semax reaches brain and blood rapidly in rats, and Russian stroke protocols use IN delivery specifically to bypass impaired cerebral blood flow and reach the penumbra. IN dosing robustly raises brain BDNF. Subcutaneous use is common in community practice but lacks human data (community protocol). Oral dosing fails: blood aminopeptidases rapidly degrade the peptide.

Practitioner consensus dosing (clinical practice extrapolation): 0.1% solution, 1–3 drops per nostril 2–3× daily; 1% solution is used in acute stroke (practitioner consensus). Rodent stress/antidepressant studies used ~50 μg/kg/day IP for 20 days; 50–250 μg/kg IN raised BDNF within hours. Community protocols track the Russian range: 100–600 mcg/day IN, or 200–500 mcg SC once daily (community protocol).

Fast onset: a single IN dose increased BDNF protein within 3 h in rats; cortical transcriptome changes were measurable 22.5 h after one dose. Animal courses run 7–20 days daily. Russian clinical use spans acute and rehabilitation stroke phases; typical courses are 1–3 weeks (practitioner consensus). Community practice uses 2–4-week cycles with 1–2-week breaks (community protocol). Continuous use beyond ~4 weeks is unstudied in humans.

Animal evidence is consistent. In chronic unpredictable stress, daily ~50 μg/kg reversed anhedonia, restored hippocampal BDNF, and attenuated adrenal hypertrophy. In social-stress models it reduced anxiety- and depression-like behavior and normalized stress-disrupted hippocampal gene expression. At 450 μg/kg it produced an "optimizing," vagotonic autonomic recovery after exertion in rats. Human mood data are limited to secondary outcomes of stroke and cognition trials (animal).

No human data; avoid during pregnancy and lactation (practitioner consensus). Semax is developmentally active: in rats it corrected behavioral and brain-monoamine deficits caused by neonatal SSRI exposure, and neonatal administration timing shifts long-term outcomes. Treat any developmental use as experimental.

No human head-to-head trials exist. In mice, all three altered NMDA glycine-site binding, with Semax producing the largest cortical shifts (up to 66% decrease in binding-site number). Semax skews activating, it enhances dopaminergic and serotonergic brain systems, while Selank skews anxiolytic. Practical selection: Semax for focus/motivation, Selank for anxious cognition (community protocol).

Oral use is ineffective: serum peptidases destroy the peptide rapidly, and gastrointestinal breakdown is worse. Store lyophilized powder refrigerated (or cool/dark); after reconstitution keep at 2–8°C and discard after ~30 days. Avoid heat and vigorous shaking. Travel with a cold pack; an already-mixed spray tolerates single-day excursions at room temperature (community protocol).