Research
GHRP-6
A synthetic hexapeptide, the first of the growth hormone releasing peptides, described by Cyril Bowers and colleagues in 1984.
Available in the catalogue
Supplied as research material. Sizes and pricing are on the product page. Availability is not a statement about what a compound does.
What is being investigated
Directions the published work points at, and how far each has actually got. These are open questions, not established effects: most of what looks promising in cells does not replicate in animals, and most of what works in animals does not work in people. Nothing here is a claim about what this compound does for anyone.
- Pituitary reserve testing
Its longest-standing use in human endocrine research: a provocative stimulus for assessing whether a pituitary can release growth hormone when asked to.
Human trials
- Cytoprotection in heart, nerve and liver tissue
A strand of the literature that has nothing to do with growth hormone, following the second receptor these peptides bind — CD36 rather than GHS-R1a. Reviewed across preclinical models; no controlled human work.
Animal studies
- Appetite stimulation in wasting conditions
The non-selectivity that later compounds were designed away from is itself the object of study here: it raises food intake through the ghrelin receptor, which is why it appears in cachexia research.
Animal studies
Published research
Every reference below was checked against the published record before being listed, with the model each study used.
- Berlanga-Acosta et al. (2017)Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology
A historical appraisal of the GHRP family, reporting that these peptides act at two receptors — GHS-R1a and CD36 — and reviewing the cytoprotective effects described across cardiac, neuronal and hepatic tissue.
review of preclinical and clinical work Source
Further reading
Longer articles on handling, analysis and what the published work reports.
- GHRP-6: what the research says
The first growth hormone releasing peptide, and the one whose lack of selectivity is why every later secretagogue exists. It also raises cortisol and appetite.
- How to store research peptides
Lyophilised peptides at -20°C, reconstituted at 2–8°C, ambient in transit. Why the dry cake tolerates shipping, and what actually degrades a vial.
- Peptide shelf life and stability
How long lyophilised and reconstituted peptides keep, and the four things that shorten it: temperature, moisture, light and oxidation. Storage figures included.
- How to reconstitute lyophilised peptides
How to reconstitute a lyophilised peptide with bacteriostatic water without damaging it: why you run the liquid down the vial wall and never shake it.