What is DSIP?

What sources report

Origin

DSIP was first isolated in Basel in 1977, from blood draining the brains of rabbits given electrical stimulation of the thalamus.¹² When the team infused 9 synthetic peptides into the brain ventricles of rabbits under double-blind conditions, only synthetic DSIP specifically enhanced slow-wave (delta) and spindle EEG patterns.⁹ Later animal work was less consistent: rat and cat studies found longer non-REM sleep in some cases and no change in delta power in others.² The DSIP studied and sold today is made synthetically.²

How it may work

The mechanism is not settled.¹ A 2006 review notes that no DSIP gene, protein or receptor had been isolated, and calls the evidence for DSIP as a natural sleep factor extremely poorly documented and weak.¹ Animal and lab work points to the opioid system. In rats, the opioid blocker naloxone stopped DSIP from lengthening sleep, and in lab tests DSIP did not bind opioid receptors directly but was reported to release enkephalins, the brain's own opioid peptides.² DSIP crosses the blood-brain barrier in animal studies.²²³ It is also broken down fast: FDA reports a plasma half-life of 8 minutes, and a dog study found 3 to 6 minutes.²

What human studies found

Across published studies, FDA tallied 209 people who received DSIP by vein, for 1 to 15 days each.² Sleep studies by Schneider-Helmert and colleagues reported faster sleep onset, longer sleep and better daytime alertness.²¹⁰ Two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies by other groups, with 6 and 16 people, did not reach the same conclusions: one judged the improvement of little clinical significance, and the other found DSIP not likely to be of major benefit.²¹⁶¹⁷ FDA's 2026 review called the evidence inconclusive and at best preliminary, with no information on long-term use.²

Other uses rest on small open studies.² In 107 inpatients withdrawing from alcohol or opiates, symptoms disappeared or improved markedly in most of those evaluated, but the study had no blinding and no comparison group.¹¹² A pilot in 7 people with chronic pain episodes and a single narcolepsy case also reported improvement, without a control group.²⁴²⁵² A ClinicalTrials.gov search in October 2026 found no registered DSIP study.²⁶ Each finding, with its evidence level, is set out in DSIP benefits and uses.

Researchers who need the compound itself can find DSIP for sale as a research vial. FDA's advisory committee reviewed DSIP at the same July 2026 meeting as epitalon, another peptide studied for sleep, and recommended epitalon for the bulks list while voting against DSIP.²⁷⁶ See What is Epithalon? for that compound and Peptides and sleep for the wider picture.

Side effects

Human safety data are thin and short-term.² Reported effects include warmth, heaviness, dry mouth and headache after single infusions in healthy volunteers, and mild drowsiness in one insomnia study.²⁸²⁹ In 107 withdrawal patients, 9 had minor, short-lived effects such as sweating, headache, nausea or vertigo, and 3 had serious reactions, including 2 with low blood pressure at the first injection.² FDA calls safety for repeated use insufficiently characterized and found no safety data for injection under the skin.² Full list: DSIP side effects.

Dosage information

No human dose of DSIP is established, and there is no approved label to set one.² The human studies FDA reviewed all gave DSIP by slow intravenous injection, mostly 25 or 30 nmol/kg per injection, on 1 to 15 days, and FDA found no study of the peptide injected under the skin.²³⁰ These figures describe supervised research, not guidance for people. Full details: DSIP dosage.

Reconstitution and storage

There are no official mixing instructions, because no approved DSIP product or label exists.² FDA's review, citing chemical suppliers, reports that the free base dissolves poorly in water and the acetate salt far better, and FDA questioned whether the 1 mg/mL injection it evaluated could be made from the free base at all.² Supplier data in the same review report the free-base powder stable for 3 years at -20 °C, and the freeze-dried powder for about 3 weeks at room temperature.² The lab steps are in How to reconstitute a peptide vial, and storage basics are in How to store peptides.

Regulatory status

No FDA-approved drug contains DSIP, and it has no USP or NF monograph.² No form of it appears in the European, Japanese or International Pharmacopoeia, and FDA found it was not a registered drug in any country it searched.²

On September 29, 2023, FDA placed emideltide in category 2 of bulk substances nominated for pharmacy compounding, the group FDA says raises significant safety risks.³¹ The nominations were later withdrawn, but FDA's safety note stays posted: compounded emideltide may trigger immune reactions, may have impurity problems, and FDA lacks the information to know whether it would harm people.¹⁹ Leaving category 2 did not make it a lawful ingredient, because a 503A pharmacy may compound only with substances that have a monograph, are part of an approved drug or are on the bulks list.¹⁸

FDA staff then evaluated DSIP as a 1 mg/mL injection under the skin for chronic insomnia, narcolepsy and opioid withdrawal, and proposed not adding it to the bulks list.² On July 24, 2026, the advisory committee voted 7 to 6, with 1 abstention, against recommending it.⁶ The vote is advisory and non-binding, and adding any substance to the bulks list requires notice-and-comment rulemaking.²⁷

FDA also found US integrative neurology clinics, med spas, wellness clinics and online retailers marketing DSIP injections and nasal sprays, none stating whether the product held the free base or a salt.² Citing a U.S. Attorney press release, FDA reports that a Kentucky pharmacy compounded and distributed emideltide products from October 2018 to April 2020.² Citing a 2003 paper, FDA describes a product designed in Russia, Deltaran, sold in ampoules of 0.3 mg DSIP and 3.0 mg glycine, yet FDA found no country where emideltide is a registered drug.² A 2022 review of Russian peptide drugs disagrees: it lists Deltaran among 14 peptide products registered in Russia, as a stress protector and treatment for alcohol addiction.³² In sport, WADA's 2026 Prohibited List does not mention DSIP by name; its class S0 bans, at all times, any substance not covered elsewhere on the List that has no current government approval for human therapeutic use.⁷⁸