Research
Melanotan-2
A cyclic synthetic analogue of α-MSH, shortened and ring-closed for stability.
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.
- Pigmentation through MC1R
Examined in early-phase human work in the 1990s, which is the origin of everything since. The published record is small and old, and no large controlled trial followed it.
Human trials
- Sexual arousal through MC4R
Observed in that same early work as an effect nobody was looking for, and it is why PT-141 was developed as a separate molecule to isolate it.
Human trials
- Appetite and energy balance through MC4R
MC4R is central to appetite regulation, which puts this compound in that literature too. Animal work; the receptor is the same one the incretin research reaches by a different route.
Animal studies
- What the non-selectivity costs
The question the rest of the family was designed around. Binding four receptors means four sets of effects at once, and separating them is what the later compounds exist to do rather than something this one achieves.
Proposed from mechanism
Published research
Every reference below was checked against the published record before being listed, with the model each study used.
- Habbema et al. (2017)International Journal of Dermatology · 56(10):975–80
A review of the risks associated with unregulated use of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone analogues, surveying the harms described across the published case literature.
review of case reports and clinical literature Source
- Reid et al. (2013)Irish Medical Journal · 106(5):148–9
Described atypical melanocytic naevi arising following injection of material sold as melanotan.
human, case report Source
Further reading
Longer articles on handling, analysis and what the published work reports.
- Melanotan-2 (MT-II): what the research says
No controlled efficacy trial has ever been published. The indexed literature is dominated by dermatology case reports of naevi after injection.
- 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.