DSIP

DSIP was isolated in 1977 from the blood of rabbits in a state of induced sleep, and named for what its discoverers thought it did. It is one of the oldest compounds covered on this site.

Its history is the most interesting thing about it, and it is worth understanding before reading anything else.

Why people are talking about it#

The origin story is genuinely unusual. Most peptides were designed to hit a target. This one was found by looking at the blood of sleeping animals and asking what was in it that was not in the blood of waking ones.

It also has human research behind it, which sets it apart from most of the research compounds here. The catch is when that research was done.

What people take it for#

Sleep, principally. It is used by people who fall asleep slowly or wake often, and secondarily for stress and recovery.

Sleep#

The claim is falling asleep faster and sleeping more deeply. The mechanism has never been fully established, which is unusual for a compound this old, and proposed routes include effects on GABA signalling and on the release of other hormones.

What that looks like to a person is a shorter time to sleep and fewer awakenings. Small human studies from the 1980s reported improvements in some sleep measures, and others found no difference from placebo.

Stress and recovery#

The claim is a lower stress response and better recovery from exertion, resting on reported effects on cortisol and on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis in early studies.

That work is old and small, and has not been repeated with modern methods.

What the evidence shows#

There is human research, and it is nearly all from the 1980s. Small studies in insomnia, in chronic pain and in opiate withdrawal reported some benefits, with sample sizes in the tens.

No modern trial exists. Nobody has run a controlled sleep study of DSIP with polysomnography and a proper placebo arm in the last three decades, and the mechanism was never pinned down, which is part of why development stalled rather than continued.

The old studies reported it as well tolerated, with occasional headache and injection site reactions, though the sample sizes were far too small to pick up anything uncommon.

How it is taken#

Sold as a powder for reconstitution and subcutaneous injection, and as compounded nasal sprays. The injectable route is what the old studies used.

No modern dose has been established, so figures in circulation trace back to the 1980s literature and to community practice.

How it compares#

Against sleep treatments with evidence#

Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia has the strongest evidence of anything in this area and is the first-line recommendation in most guidelines. It is also the comparison worth making, because persistent poor sleep usually has a cause worth finding.

Against Selank and Semax#

Selank and Semax share the pattern of an older, geographically concentrated evidence base. DSIP's is older still.

Common questions#

Does it actually induce sleep?

The evidence is mixed and old. Some small studies reported benefit and others found none, and no modern controlled trial has settled it.

Why was it never developed?

The mechanism was never pinned down and the results were inconsistent. Both are ordinary reasons for a promising compound to stall.

Is the nasal spray as good as the injection?

The old studies used injection. Nasal versions are compounded by sellers and have not been compared.

How old is the evidence, exactly?

Most of it is from the 1980s, which is roughly forty years without a follow-up.