DSIP: The Definitive Guide

What is DSIP?

DSIP (delta sleep-inducing peptide) is a lab-made peptide, a short chain of nine amino acids, sold online as a sleep aid. It is named after "delta" brain waves, the slow waves of deep sleep, because early rabbit experiments linked it to them. Small human studies in the 1980s gave mixed results, and it is not an approved medicine in the United States. [1], [2], [3]

Researchers in Basel, Switzerland, isolated it in 1977 from blood draining the brains of rabbits that had been put to sleep by electrically stimulating the thalamus, a relay area deep in the brain. Its sequence is Trp-Ala-Gly-Gly-Asp-Ala-Ser-Gly-Glu (WAGGDASGE), and the World Health Organization proposed the official name emideltide in 1993. [1], [4], [5]

The name makes DSIP sound like the body's own sleep switch, and that is not established. No gene, precursor protein or receptor for it has been found. Blood tests detect a DSIP-like antibody signal (immunoreactivity) rather than the intact peptide, and in 12 healthy people that signal peaked in mid-afternoon and was lowest at 1 a.m., the opposite of a night-time sleep hormone. [6], [7], [8]

DSIP is not an approved medicine in the United States, and the legal section covers other countries. Russia and Ukraine register nose-drop medicines, Deltaran and Deltalicin, that contain 300 mcg of DSIP with the amino acid glycine, for stress-related conditions and alcohol withdrawal, although the Russian product's original maker says it stopped production. [3], [9], [10], [11]

Typical DSIP Protocols

The most common protocol in the reviewed sources is 100–300 mcg by subcutaneous injection once nightly, 30–60 minutes before bed, usually starting at 100 mcg, for a few weeks and up to about 8 weeks. Of 26 dosing pages we compared, 17 give 100–300 mcg by injection, although several copy one another. [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21]

Titration Changing the amount in steps

Several pages start at 100 mcg and add 50–100 mcg if sleep does not change, some after 3–4 nights and others in weekly steps, stopping at 200–300 mcg or, on a few pages, 500 mcg. [19], [12], [14] The Russian label also starts with one dose a day and adds more only if needed. [22] No study has tested whether stepping up helps, and in animal studies larger doses often worked less well than moderate ones. [23], [24]

Breaks and cycles

Pages describe courses of 10 nights to 12 weeks followed by 1–8 weeks off, or 5 nights on and 2 off. [13], [25], [20], [26] The only official statement is the Ukrainian label's: a 5–10-day course may be repeated after 4–8 weeks if needed. [10] No study has compared break lengths.

Timing

Most pages say 30–60 minutes before bed; some say 1–3 hours. [27], [28] The 1980s studies gave DSIP in the morning, late afternoon or at bedtime, and a Swiss summary reported that morning injections still improved night sleep while two doses a day did not. [29], [30], [31], [32]

Read the units: mcg means micrograms; 1 mg equals 1,000 mcg. The studies dosed by body weight in nanomoles per kilogram (nmol/kg): 25 nmol/kg is 21.3 mcg per kg, or about 1,500 mcg (1.5 mg) for a 70 kg adult. [3] The Russian and Ukrainian ampoules hold 300 mcg of DSIP plus glycine (3 mg in the Russian product; the Ukrainian label gives no amount), and only the DSIP amount counts as the dose. [22], [10]

Low, mid and high are alternatives, not steps to move through. These schedules come from protocol websites: no human study has injected DSIP subcutaneously, and the amounts are about 3 to 18 times smaller than the doses given into a vein in the 1980s studies. The cited references give the full details.

What doses were tested in people?

The website amounts and the study amounts are far apart. A 100–300 mcg injection is about 1.4–4.3 mcg per kg for a 70 kg adult, against 21.3 mcg per kg infused into a vein, and nobody has measured how much of a subcutaneous dose reaches the blood. How DSIP was given also mattered: the Basel group wrote that "slow injection proved essential", and FDA's review notes that an infusion given over one minute had no effect. [3], [36]

Doserly

Three kinds of DSIP dose

Study, label and website amounts

Bars on one scale, 0–2,000 mcg

Sleep studiesInto a vein (IV)

1,500–1,800 mcg25–30 nmol/kg, about 1.5–1.8 mg for a 70 kg adult

Licensed nose drops (Russia, Ukraine)Into the nose

300 mcg300 mcg DSIP per ampoule, plus glycine; 1–3 ampoules a day

Websites, injection (typical)Subcutaneous

100–300 mcgMost common range on dosing pages; untested in people

Websites, injection (high example)Subcutaneous

350–500 mcgTop step of one site’s ‘advanced’ table

Websites, nasal spray (typical)Into the nose

100–300 mcgEach site's own figure per spray; what a pump delivers is not measured

Amounts per dose. Routes differ, so equal numbers do not mean equal exposure; nobody has measured blood levels after a subcutaneous injection or nasal dose in people.

The studied dose, the licensed dose and the website dose are different amounts given different ways.

What do the Russian and Ukrainian labels say?

These are the only regulator-approved DSIP schedules. Both products are nose drops, made by dissolving a freeze-dried ampoule of 300 mcg DSIP with glycine just before use, and both are for adults. The Russian label gives 3 mg of glycine per ampoule; the Ukrainian label lists glycine without an amount.

A registration is not proof that a product is on sale. Russia issued Deltaran a new registration on July 31, 2026, but the original maker's website still says production stopped and the last batch expired in November 2010. The labels cover these nose drops only; they say nothing about injecting DSIP. [9], [11]

What doses do nasal sprays use?

Outside Russia and Ukraine, nasal DSIP is usually a home-made or ready-made spray mixed from research powder. These schedules come from protocol websites and sellers, and each spray holds whatever the mix and the pump deliver.

For sprays, the recurring pattern is 100–300 mcg once nightly, 15–60 minutes before bed. [37], [26], [39]

In community education groups, the most common practice is to start at 100–125 mcg by injection and add 50–100 mcg every few nights up to 250–500 mcg nightly, usually 30–60 minutes before bed. Smaller groups stay at a fixed 200–300 mcg, use it only 2–5 nights a week, or use sprays of uncertain strength, and a minority go to 1 mg or more. Nobody in those discussions describes using the studied intravenous dose or the labels' nose-drop courses.

Where protocols differ: route, dose steps, breaks and stopping ↓

What is DSIP commonly used for?

Almost everyone who looks into DSIP wants better sleep: falling asleep faster, waking less often, or waking up feeling more rested. Dosing pages and clinics also list stress, shift work, jet lag, pain and recovery from training. [18], [12], [37], [41]

The research behind those uses is older and thinner than the marketing suggests. The human sleep studies were small, gave DSIP into a vein, and disagreed with each other. Withdrawal and pain were tested in small open studies in the 1980s, and the Russian and Ukrainian nose drops are licensed for stress-related conditions and alcohol withdrawal. Nobody has tested the injections or sprays sold online for any of these uses. [3], [22], [10]

Doserly

Where the human sleep evidence on DSIP is

Small human studies, all into a vein

Healthy volunteers, 1981

People in study6DesignCrossover with placeboTeamBaselResultMore sleep in a 130-minute daytime window

Chronic insomnia, 1981

People in study6DesignCrossover with placeboTeamBaselResultLonger, less broken sleep; slight arousal in the first hour

Severe insomnia, 1984

People in study7DesignNo comparison groupTeamBaselResultSleep ‘normalized’ in 6 of 7

Chronic insomnia, 1986

People in study18DesignNo same-time placebo groupTeamBaselResultImproved from baseline

Severe chronic insomnia, 1987

People in study14DesignCompared with healthy people outside the studyTeamBaselResultFaster sleep onset, longer sleep

Chronic insomnia, Monti 1987

People in study6DesignRandomly ordered, double-blind, placebo crossoverTeamOther teamResultNo significant difference

Chronic insomnia, Bes 1992

People in study16DesignDouble-blind, placebo group (8 per group)TeamOther teamResultWeak effects; not of major benefit

Under anaesthesia, 2009

People in study24DesignRandomized, salt-water comparisonTeamOther teamResultDelta waves fell at the lowest dose; heart rate roseNot a sleep-treatment study; the 24 includes the salt-water group

All studies gave DSIP into a vein. Numbers are people in each study; some Basel samples may overlap.

The positive reports came from one Basel team's small studies, several without a same-time placebo group; the two placebo-controlled studies by other teams found little or no benefit.

Insomnia and "deep sleep"

This is the main use, and the evidence is mixed. Early studies from the Basel group reported longer, less broken sleep in people with chronic insomnia after DSIP was infused into a vein. The two placebo-controlled studies run by other research teams found little or no benefit, and FDA's 2026 review called the insomnia evidence "inconclusive and at best preliminary". [31], [34], [2], [30], [3]

"Deep sleep" is the claim most often made online, usually backed by a sleep tracker's score. No human study has shown that DSIP reliably increases delta sleep, and in the one modern study, in people under anaesthesia, delta brain-wave activity went down at the lowest dose, not up. The human research section gives the study-by-study details. [42], [6]

Falling asleep versus staying asleep

The studies and the users disagree on which one DSIP helps. In the 1981 insomnia study, sleep was longer and less interrupted, but DSIP did not shorten the time taken to fall asleep and caused "a slight arousing effect" in the first hour. [31], [3] In community education groups, people describe both patterns: some fall asleep faster but still wake, others fall asleep no faster but stay asleep.

Stress and anxiety

The Russian label lists treatment and prevention of stress-related conditions, and the Ukrainian label lists stress-related disorders with irritability, low mood and sleep problems. We found no controlled adult trial behind those listings, and the human hormone studies do not show DSIP lowering the stress hormone cortisol. [22], [10], [43], [44]

Shift work, jet lag and body-clock problems

Clinic and dosing pages recommend DSIP for shift work and jet lag. The human evidence is one 1987 case: a woman with a delayed sleep pattern whose main sleep moved 5 hours earlier during a week of hospital treatment that also withdrew her from a sleeping pill. In rats, repeated evening injections changed the daily rhythm of activity. No trial has tested DSIP for shift work or jet lag. [12], [37], [45], [46]

Alcohol and opioid withdrawal

In the 1980s, a Geneva team gave DSIP into a vein to 107 hospital patients withdrawing from alcohol or opioids and reported that symptoms disappeared or improved markedly in most of those who could be assessed. There was no comparison group, and many patients' anxiety and insomnia returned within 24–72 hours of stopping. A 1998 study of 7 people in opioid withdrawal found that only 2 completed the planned schedule. Russia's label lists alcohol withdrawal, alongside other treatment. [35], [3], [47], [22]

Pain

A 1984 pilot gave DSIP into a vein to 7 people with migraine, tinnitus or long-lasting pain, and reported less pain in 6 of them compared with their own history. There was no comparison group. In rodents, DSIP given into the brain relieved pain, an effect blocked by the opioid-blocking drug naloxone. [48], [49]

Other uses you may come across

Small Russian studies added Deltaran nose drops to standard treatment in children with epilepsy, children with behavioural and emotional problems, children on chemotherapy, and adults with psoriasis, eczema or diabetic eye disease. They are poorly reported and the product contains glycine, so they cannot show what DSIP alone does. "Anti-ageing" claims trace to a mouse study in which Deltaran did not change average lifespan. Recovery, muscle growth and growth-hormone claims have no human support; in 8 women, DSIP did not change growth hormone. [50], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57]

Where do DSIP protocols differ?

DSIP schedules look similar across websites until you compare them with the studies and labels. The route, the amount and the length of use all change depending on which source you read.

Is there an established DSIP dose?

No. The only human dose studied for sleep is 25–30 nmol/kg infused into a vein; the only licensed dose is 300 mcg of DSIP in a nose drop with glycine, for 5–10 days; and the website dose of 100–300 mcg by injection has never been tested. FDA found no safety or effectiveness data for subcutaneous injection. [3], [22]

No study has looked for the best dose in people. In animals, the response was often bell-shaped: moderate doses worked and larger ones worked less, or not at all. [24], [23], [58]

Why are website doses so much lower than the study doses?

Most pages give a flat microgram amount without explaining that the studies used a different route and dosed by body weight. Only 7 of 26 dosing pages we reviewed clearly say the human studies gave DSIP into a vein. One page converts 25 nmol/kg to 1.5 mcg per kg, about 14 times too low; another suggests 1–5 mg per dose with no source. [17], [40]

In community education groups, a minority who found nothing at usual doses moved up to 1–2.5 mg. That lands close to the studied amount per kilogram, but by a route that has never been tested, and people in the same discussions report both nonresponse and intense dreams at those amounts.

Nightly, a few nights a week, or only when needed?

Nearly all pages describe nightly use; a few describe 5 nights on and 2 off, every 2–3 days, or only when needed. [20], [59], [60] A 1984 summary of the Basel work reported a build-up, with sleep structure back to normal after four doses. [32] No study has compared nightly with intermittent use. In community education groups, some people switched to 2–5 nights a week after nightly use seemed to make sleep worse.

How long, and are breaks needed?

Courses on dosing pages run from a single night to 8–12 weeks, and one page gives both an 8–12-week course and a 2–3-week maximum. Breaks run from 1 to 8 weeks, usually "to maintain sensitivity". Other pages say DSIP causes no tolerance or dependence, and one seller cites an unidentified study of "no receptor desensitization", although no DSIP receptor is known. None of these claims has been tested. [20], [26], [61], [62], [6]

The labels use 5–10-day courses; the Ukrainian label allows a repeat after 4–8 weeks. In rabbits, six daily doses into a vein showed "no obvious sign of adaptation". [22], [10], [63]

Injection or nasal spray?

Both are used, and neither the injections nor the home-made sprays sold online have been studied in people; apart from one 2001 letter, the human nasal studies used the licensed drops for other conditions. [77], [50], [55] Websites often give the same amount for both routes, although nobody knows how much of either reaches the blood. [39], [40] The route section explains what has and has not been measured.

How do micrograms convert to syringe units?

DSIP for injection is sold as a freeze-dried powder that is mixed with sterile water. On a U-100 insulin syringe, units measure volume, not drug. For example, a 5 mg vial (5,000 mcg) mixed with 3 mL gives about 1,667 mcg per mL, or about 16.7 mcg per unit, so 100 mcg is about 6 units. The same vial mixed with 5 mL gives 10 mcg per unit, so 100 mcg is 10 units. [14], [13] These are the pages' own mixing volumes. Whether a vial dissolves fully at these strengths depends on the form: FDA reports that DSIP free base dissolves at only about 0.5 mg per mL, while the acetate salt dissolves at 10 mg per mL in a buffered salt solution, so a free-base vial may not fully dissolve at these strengths. [3] Doserly's reconstitution calculator works this out for any vial and shows each step.

What happens when you stop DSIP?

No study has tested withdrawal effects or rebound insomnia properly, and FDA notes that DSIP's potential for misuse has never been assessed. Intravenous research courses lasted 1–15 days; one Russian study used the nose drops for two months, beyond the labels' 5–10-day courses; follow-up was short. [3], [50], [22]

• Sleep studies. In the Basel studies, better sleep held on one placebo night after a 7-night course, and for a follow-up week in middle-aged patients. An open 1984 study claimed normal sleep for 3–7 months after 10 injections in 6 of 7 people. The placebo nights after treatment in the 1987 Monti study showed no significant change, and no study reported sleep worse than before treatment. [34], [33], [64], [2], [3]
• Withdrawal patients. Many opioid patients in the Geneva series had anxiety with marked insomnia again within 24–72 hours of their last dose, most likely their underlying withdrawal. [3]
• Side effects. In the Russian study of children given nose drops, the unwanted effects went away 1–2 weeks after the course. [51]
• Personal accounts. People describe sleep going back to how it was before, benefits fading within days to weeks, and occasionally sleeping better after stopping. [65], [66], [67], [68] In community education groups, a few say benefits lasted weeks and others slept worse on skipped nights; nobody described physical withdrawal.

Dosing-page claims of "no dependence" and "no rebound" have no test behind them, and the Russian developer's statement that DSIP "does not cause habituation" gives no data. [61], [69]

Do injections, nasal sprays and nose drops behave the same way?

Nobody knows, because DSIP has never been measured in human blood after a subcutaneous injection or a nasal dose. FDA's review found no pharmacokinetic information at all for the subcutaneous route, and the Ukrainian label says the nose drops' pharmacokinetics were "not studied". [3], [10]

What is known comes from the intravenous studies and from animals and cells. DSIP breaks down quickly in blood, starting at its tryptophan end. Small amounts crossed from the blood into the brain in rats, sheep and brain-vessel cells, by routes that differed between models. In layers of human gut cells in a dish, no intact DSIP passed through, which argues against swallowing it. [71], [72], [73], [74], [75]

Doserly

What has been measured for each route

Only intravenous DSIP was studied for sleep

Into a vein (IV)

Measured in lab serum

Human studies

Sleep, withdrawal, pain and hormone studies, 1981–2009 (about 209 people)

Blood levels in people

No blood-level curve published; half-life 5–10 minutes in human serum in the lab, 8 minutes quoted in a review

Animal or lab findings

A few minutes in dogs and rats

Subcutaneous injection

Not measured

Human studies

None

Blood levels in people

Not measured

Animal or lab findings

Changed sleep in rabbits and cats at much higher doses per kg (for example 1 mg/kg in rabbits)

Nose drops or spray

Not measured

Human studies

Russian and Ukrainian DSIP-plus-glycine drops in patients with other conditions; one 2001 Western letter we could not read

Blood levels in people

Not studied (Ukrainian label)

Animal or lab findings

Improved movement recovery after stroke in rats

Swallowed

Not measured

Human studies

None

Blood levels in people

Not measured

Animal or lab findings

No intact DSIP passed through a layer of human gut cells in a dish

Measured means someone published the measurement, not that it was favourable. Animal and cell findings do not show what happens in people.

Nobody has measured DSIP in human blood after an injection under the skin or a nasal dose.

Did any human study use subcutaneous injections?

No. Every human sleep, withdrawal, pain and hormone study we found gave DSIP into a vein, and FDA's 2026 review found no human data for the subcutaneous route. Subcutaneous DSIP changed sleep in rabbits and cats, but at doses per kilogram far higher than the websites' amounts, such as 1 mg per kg in rabbits. [3], [23], [76]

The only Western report of DSIP given through the nose is a 2001 letter on a brain-wave response in men; it has no abstract and we could not read it. The Russian and Ukrainian nose-drop studies were in children and adults with other conditions, and none measured blood levels. [77], [50], [55]

Is a home-made spray the same as the licensed drops?

No. The licensed drops contain a fixed 300 mcg of DSIP with glycine, dissolved just before use; the Russian label says the solution is used in full and not kept. A home-made or ready-made spray contains whatever was mixed into it; sellers and pages describe 50 or 100 mcg a spray without measuring it, and some sell DSIP blended with melatonin or other ingredients. [22], [26], [38]

How long does DSIP last in the body?

Minutes. In human blood serum in the lab, its half-life was 5–10 minutes, and FDA quotes a plasma half-life of 8 minutes from a review. In dogs and rats given DSIP into a vein, it was a few minutes. [3], [78]

The "15-minute half-life" on many websites comes from rat brain slices, not human blood, and longer figures have no measurement behind them. How long an effect lasts is a different question: in the Basel studies, a morning dose still changed the following night's sleep. [58], [29], [32]

Is P-DSIP, DSIP acetate or Deltaran the same thing?

Not exactly. P-DSIP is DSIP with a phosphate group added to its seventh amino acid, and it has only been studied in rats. DSIP acetate is the same peptide as a salt; FDA reviewed both forms, and no study has compared them in people. Deltaran is a DSIP-plus-glycine nose drop, not another name for DSIP. [79], [80], [3], [22]

How should DSIP be stored, and how long does it last?

For the licensed nose drops, the answer comes from the labels. For research powder and mixed vials, no shelf life for human use has been established.

• Licensed nose drops. Deltaran: keep away from light at 2–15 °C; shelf life 3 years; the dissolved solution is used in full and not stored. Deltalicin: keep in the original pack at no more than 25 °C; shelf life 2 years; open the ampoule just before use. [22], [10]
• Research powder. Laboratory suppliers give their own conditions: −20 °C for 3–4 years, 4 °C for 2 years, or 0–5 °C for up to 6 months, depending on the supplier. These are statements for laboratory material, not drug labels. [81], [82], [83]
• Mixed (reconstituted) solutions. One supplier advises against keeping DSIP dissolved in water for more than a day, another gives up to 5 days in a fridge, and FDA's review relays a supplier's statement that a laboratory solution of DSIP acetate lasts more than a month frozen at −20 °C, which is not a storage period for a mixed multi-use vial. Dosing websites give anything from 24 hours to about 4 weeks in a fridge, most often 28 days, without a DSIP stability test; one seller says 14 days in one article and 28 days in another. [81], [83], [3], [59], [21], [84], [85]

The only laboratory data found are a short experiment in which DSIP was "fairly stable" in mildly acidic to mildly alkaline buffer, and the finding that one form of its aspartic acid building block is much less active than the other, so a product's exact chemistry matters. No study has measured how long a multi-use vial mixed with bacteriostatic water keeps its strength. [86], [4]

This guide does not cover mixing or injection technique; the Academy note below covers practical handling.

What do we actually know about DSIP in people?

Less than its name suggests. FDA counted 209 people given DSIP into a vein, at 25–150 nmol/kg for 1–15 days, across 12 reports. Most studies were tiny, several had no comparison group, and none is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. No human study has tested subcutaneous injections. [3], [70]

What did the sleep studies find?

The two studies run outside the original Basel group, both with a placebo comparison, found little. Reviewers since have called the idea of DSIP as a natural sleep factor "extremely poorly documented and still weak", and FDA's 2026 review judged the insomnia studies inconclusive. [2], [30], [6], [3]

Two single-patient reports round out the sleep record: fewer sleep attacks in one man with narcolepsy, and better sleep in a man with insomnia after bleeding in the brainstem, which reversed when DSIP stopped. [87], [88]

What about withdrawal, pain and hormones?

• Withdrawal, 1983–1984. A Geneva team treated 107 hospital patients (47 alcohol, 60 opioid). Symptoms disappeared or improved markedly in 97% of opioid and 87% of alcohol patients who could be assessed, but 13% and 22% could not be assessed, there was no comparison group, and a 1983 report of 67 patients probably overlaps. [35], [89]
• Opioid withdrawal, 1998. 7 people given 35 nmol/kg up to 6 times a day for 7 days: the average withdrawal score fell by about half after the first injection, but only 2 people completed the schedule, withdrawal came back after later injections in all but 1, and both completers needed another sleep medicine. [47]
• Pain, 1984. 7 people with migraine, tinnitus or long-lasting pain; less pain in 6 compared with their own history. [48]
• Hormones. In healthy volunteers, 25 nmol/kg lowered an ACTH-like signal (ACTH is the pituitary hormone that drives cortisol) without changing cortisol, did not change cortisol or ACTH responses to a stress-hormone challenge or a meal at 3–4 mg, and did not change growth hormone or prolactin in women. [43], [90], [44], [57]

What did the anaesthesia study find?

In 2009, 24 women having surgery were randomly given salt water or DSIP at 25, 50 or 100 nmol/kg into a vein alongside anaesthetic gas. DSIP raised heart rate, lowered heart rate variability and, in the authors' word, "paradoxically" reduced delta brain-wave activity at the lowest dose, a lighter state of anaesthesia rather than a deeper one. [42]

What do the Russian nose-drop studies show?

They are the only human studies of the licensed product. Deltaran was added to standard treatment in 102 children with epilepsy (compared with a glycine placebo), 42 children with behavioural and emotional problems (32 on Deltaran, 10 on glycine tablets), 83 children on chemotherapy, 123 adults with eczema in four groups, and patients with psoriasis, diabetic eye disease or diabetes in old age. [50], [51], [52], [54], [53], [55], [91]

The reports rarely say how patients were assigned or whether anyone was blinded, several have links to the product's developers, and every one used a DSIP-plus-glycine product. None measured sleep with brain-wave recordings. In the children's study, symptom scores fell on both Deltaran and glycine, and the Deltaran group started with more severe symptoms. [51], [69]

What kind of outcome did each study measure?

The sleep studies used overnight sleep-lab recordings (polysomnography) and questionnaires; Bes found no benefit in how well people felt they slept. The withdrawal studies used clinicians' ratings, the hormone studies blood levels over a few hours, and the Russian studies symptom scales or blood tests. None measured lasting health effects or used sleep-tracker scores. [2], [30], [35], [43]

How might DSIP work?

Nobody knows. No receptor, gene or precursor protein has been identified, the name comes from rabbit experiments, and animal results point in different directions. The explanations below are from animal and cell studies unless a human study is named. [6], [24]

Does DSIP really induce deep (delta) sleep?

In some animal studies, yes. Infused into the brain's fluid spaces, it increased delta brain waves by 35% in rabbits and raised slow-wave and total sleep by about 20% in rats; injected into the brain, it increased deep sleep in cats. [4], [92], [93]

Other studies found nothing. Rats given DSIP into the abdomen or brain showed no significant increase in sleep, and in another rat study native DSIP had no effect while two longer-lasting versions did. Blocking the body's own DSIP-like signal with antibodies did not change sleep in one rat study but blocked extra deep sleep after sleep loss in another. In people under anaesthesia, delta activity went down. [94], [95], [96], [97], [42]

Across many experiments, the dose-response curve was U-shaped or bell-shaped, and effects depended on the time of day. That may help explain why results disagree, and it means more is not necessarily better. [24], [23]

Does DSIP reach the brain?

Some of it, in animals. Radioactively tagged DSIP crossed from the blood into the brain in small amounts in rats, a carrier-type process moved it into the brain's fluid in sheep, and brain-vessel cells in a dish let a little through. Enzymes in the blood and in brain-vessel cells break it down, including peptidyl dipeptidase A, the enzyme that blood-pressure medicines called ACE inhibitors block. [72], [73], [74], [71], [98]

Does DSIP act on the body's opioid system?

Possibly, indirectly. In rats, the opioid-blocking drug naloxone cancelled DSIP's sleep effect; DSIP given into the brain relieved pain in rodents, blocked by naloxone and absent in mice already tolerant to morphine; and DSIP released the body's own opioid, met-enkephalin, from rat brainstem slices. It also eased naloxone-triggered withdrawal in morphine-dependent mice. FDA notes that DSIP's potential for misuse, which an opioid link could raise, has never been studied. [99], [49], [100], [23], [3]

Does DSIP lower cortisol or raise growth hormone?

In rats, depending on the test. DSIP reduced a stress-hormone response triggered by CRF (corticotropin-releasing factor, a brain stress hormone), raised growth hormone after injection into the brain, and raised the reproductive hormone LH (luteinizing hormone) only in hormone-primed females. [101], [102], [103]

The human studies do not support the online claims of "cortisol normalization": cortisol did not change, and growth hormone and prolactin did not change. [43], [44], [57]

Stress, low oxygen and stroke models

Mostly Russian rat studies report that DSIP protected brain energy production during low oxygen and changed stress-hormone and brain-chemical responses. In rats with a stroke, DSIP given through the nose improved recovery of movement but did not significantly shrink the damaged area. [104], [105], [106], [107]

What are the risks and unanswered questions?

Is DSIP safe?

Nobody has shown that it is safe the way it is used online. Its human safety record is short courses given into a vein to about 209 people, plus small Russian nose-drop studies that reported side effects briefly, and many of those studies did not say how they checked for side effects. There are no human data for subcutaneous injection, and FDA found no standard animal studies of repeated dosing, reproduction, genetic damage or cancer. [3], [50], [51]

FDA's search of its side-effect reporting system found no reports for DSIP up to March 2024. That shows how rarely problems are reported for unapproved products, not that none happen. [3]

What side effects have been reported?

People using injections and sprays also describe sleeping worse, next-day grogginess, vivid dreams or nightmares, and headaches; those accounts are in what people report.

Can DSIP make sleep worse?

It can for some people. In the 1981 insomnia study, DSIP caused "a slight arousing effect" in the first hour, and under anaesthesia it lightened rather than deepened the brain's state. One shortened version of DSIP was arousing in rats. [31], [42], [95] Personal accounts describe sleepless nights after a dose, and in community education groups, feeling "wired" or sleeping worse on dosing nights is one of the most common complaints. [68], [109]

Is it safe to drive after DSIP?

The labels disagree. The Russian Deltaran label says it does not affect driving; the Ukrainian Deltalicin label advises caution when driving or operating machinery. [22], [10] Users describe a next-day "hangover" feeling, and in community education groups one person nearly fell asleep driving to work after a first 250 mcg dose. [110]

Is DSIP addictive?

This has not been studied. FDA found no study of DSIP's potential for misuse, and animal studies link some of its effects to the body's opioid system. No published report describes dependence, but no study was designed to find it. [3], [99]

Could product quality change the risk?

Yes. FDA flags possible immune reactions to an injected peptide, clumping (aggregation), impurities, missing tests for bacterial toxins, and a solubility problem: DSIP free base dissolves at about 0.5 mg per mL, half the strength proposed for compounded injections, although the acetate salt dissolves more easily. Health Canada lists DSIP among unauthorized injectable peptides it has seized. We found no independent purity survey of DSIP sold online. [3], [111], [112]

Are there animal findings that raise questions?

A few, none tested in people. DSIP lowered blood pressure and heart rate in rats. In a rat heart-attack experiment, all 10 rats given DSIP while a heart artery was blocked died within 30 minutes; the report gives no dose and no comparison group. A mouse lifetime study of Deltaran found fewer tumours, but it was not designed as a cancer-safety test. [108], [113], [56], [3]

Is DSIP legal? Is it FDA-approved?

Checked September 23, 2026. Rules differ by country and change quickly. A "research use only" label does not make a product legal to sell or safe to use.

United States. DSIP (emideltide) is not an FDA-approved medicine and is not part of any approved drug. The key steps: [3]

• Nominations withdrawn. Companies asked FDA to let pharmacies compound DSIP, then withdrew. FDA's list of compounding ingredients that may present significant safety risks shows it as "nominated but withdrawn", warning of possible immune reactions and impurities. [111]
• Past compounding. FDA's review cites a federal case in which a pharmacy compounded and distributed DSIP products from October 2018 to April 2020. [3]
• 2026 staff review. FDA reviewed DSIP on its own initiative for injection in opioid withdrawal, chronic insomnia and narcolepsy, and concluded that the evidence weighed against allowing it. [3]
• July 24, 2026. FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted 6 yes, 7 no and 1 abstention on adding the free base to the list of bulk ingredients pharmacies may compound, and the same for the acetate salt. An advisory vote is not an FDA decision. [114], [115]
• Now. No final decision had been published by September 23, 2026: the meeting page lists no minutes or official vote results, the Federal Register has no notice, and DSIP is not on FDA's list of bulk ingredients pharmacies may use. [116], [117], [118]

Canada. Health Canada named DSIP in an August 2025 advisory about seized unauthorized injectable peptides and again in an April 2026 advisory, and we found no Canadian authorization. [119], [112]

Australia. DSIP is not named in the June 2026 Poisons Standard, and we found no Australian approval. A missing name does not make it legal to sell or import. [120]

United Kingdom and Europe. We found no UK or European Union authorization for DSIP and no regulator statement naming it, as of September 2026.

Russia and Ukraine. Russia issued Deltaran, the DSIP-plus-glycine nose drop, a new registration on July 31, 2026, and its label makes it a non-prescription medicine; the original maker's site says production stopped in 2010, so a registration does not show it is on sale. Ukraine's Deltalicin is a prescription medicine with a valid registration since 2020. [9], [22], [11], [10]

Is DSIP banned in sport?

It is not named on the World Anti-Doping Agency's current 2026 list or on the 2027 list, which takes effect on January 1, 2027. Their S0 rule bans substances with no current approval by any government health authority, and the 2027 list now names "peptides" as an example. Because DSIP products are registered in Russia and Ukraine, it is unclear whether S0 covers DSIP. A 2026 Abu Dhabi health department standard lists it as prohibited under S0, but that is not a WADA ruling, and we found no athlete case involving DSIP. Competitive athletes should check with their anti-doping organization. [121], [122], [123]

Who should be especially cautious?

The labels rule out some groups; the others are cautions from studies or have not been studied, which is a reason for caution, not proof of harm.

• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. Deltaran's label rules them out, and Deltalicin's label says there is no experience. [22], [10]
• Children and teenagers. The Russian label rules out use under 18. The Russian children's study reported mood swings into hypomania, excessive thirst and urination, and agitation. [22], [51]
• A slow heart rate or low blood pressure. The Russian label advises against use with a severely slow heart rate (bradycardia); low blood pressure occurred in the withdrawal study, and heart rate and blood pressure fell in rats. [22], [3], [108]
• Blood-pressure medicines. FDA notes a possible interaction with ACE inhibitors such as captopril, because the same enzyme breaks DSIP down; it has not been tested. [3], [98]
• Sleep apnea, loud snoring or unexplained daytime sleepiness. No study has given DSIP to people with sleep apnea, so nothing shows it is safe for them or that it treats apnea. In community education groups, some people with apnea use DSIP and one described putting their breathing machine away after two weeks; decisions about a CPAP machine (continuous positive airway pressure) belong with the sleep clinician.
• Sleeping pills, sedating antidepressants, opioids or alcohol. Combinations are unstudied, and animal studies link DSIP to the opioid system. [99], [3]
• Bipolar disorder, nightmares or PTSD. Two children shifted into hypomania on Deltaran, and nightmares are a common complaint online. [51], [124]
• Older adults. One small 1986 study included 9 older people with insomnia; there are no safety data for frail or older users. In community education groups, relatives describe giving DSIP to elderly parents, including one in hospital without staff knowing; a hospital team needs to know everything a patient receives. [33]
• Drivers and shift workers, because of next-day grogginess and the labels' disagreement about driving. [10]
• Drug-tested athletes, because of the unresolved S0 question. [122]

Has DSIP been tested alongside other medicines?

Not in a formal interaction study. The Russian label says no interactions have been identified, which reflects a lack of testing. FDA flags a theoretical interaction with ACE inhibitors. In the 1998 opioid study, both people who finished needed another sleep medicine, and the Russian studies added DSIP to standard treatments without testing interactions. Nothing is known about DSIP with melatonin, Epitalon, Selank, growth-hormone peptides, sleeping pills or alcohol. Bring a complete list of everything you take to a pharmacist or doctor. [22], [3], [47]

What should be monitored while using DSIP?

Neither label sets blood tests or check-ups. What exists is a record of what the studies measured and what they found, which can help you prepare questions for a clinician; it is not a personal testing plan.

What do the labels ask for?

No routine tests. Both labels list who should not use the drops; the Russian label advises against use with a severely slow heart rate, and the two labels disagree about driving. [22], [10]

What did the human studies check?

• Sleep studies recorded brain waves (EEG) overnight, sleep diaries, sleepiness and daytime performance. [2], [30], [34]
• Hormone studies measured ACTH, cortisol, vasopressin, growth hormone and prolactin for a few hours after a dose. [43], [90], [57], [44]
• The anaesthesia study measured heart rate and heart rate variability, and both moved in the direction of arousal rather than calm. [42]
• The withdrawal studies recorded low-blood-pressure events. [3]
• Russian nose-drop studies measured white blood cells, immune markers, brain waves or blood sugar, depending on the condition. [52], [50], [91]

Routine blood counts, liver and kidney tests and heart tracings were not reported in any Western human study we could access. "Not reported" does not mean "normal".

Which signals matter, and why?

Fainting, a very slow or racing pulse, or a severe allergic reaction needs urgent medical care rather than tracking. [3], [22]

These come from small studies and personal accounts, so they show what has been flagged, not what a person will experience. A sleep tracker's deep-sleep figure is not the brain-wave recording the studies used.

What do people in public communities report?

Public forums and community education groups contain grateful reports, flat disappointments and a steady stream of complaints about worse sleep, often in the same thread. Almost everyone uses research injections or home-made sprays, not the licensed drops, and most take other things for sleep too. These are selected discussions, not a survey of everyone who has tried DSIP.

What do the positive reports look like?

The typical success story is deeper sleep rather than longer sleep. One person injected 350 mcg an hour before bed and reported about 40 more minutes each of tracker-estimated deep and REM sleep, then noted in an update that the effect faded. Another took 100 mcg in the evening and could fall back asleep after a usual 3 a.m. waking. A third, on 100 mcg five nights a week, slept more deeply but woke just as often, and stopped because of low mood. [65], [124], [125]

In community education groups, the most repeated positive pattern is a wearable showing more deep sleep, waking refreshed on the same or even shorter sleep, and sometimes waking early, around 3–5 a.m., feeling fine. Shift workers are often among the people who report benefit.

How fast does it work, and does it last?

Some describe a strong first night: one person on 350 mcg reported 8 hours of sleep against a usual 2–4. [66], [126] Others describe benefit building over one to three weeks, and in community education groups some say they noticed nothing until they had been using it for weeks.

Fading is common. People describe DSIP working "only the first time", strong benefit in early 10-day cycles that became "barely noticeable" months later, and an effect that faded after one to two months. [124], [109], [67] No study has tested whether tolerance develops.

Does everyone notice something?

No, and "nothing happened" is one of the most common stories. One person noticed no change over three nights, on a sleep tracker or otherwise; others noticed nothing with either a spray or an injection, including at 300 mcg a day. [127], [128], [109] In community education groups, nonresponders appear on both routes and at every amount from 100 mcg to 2 mg, including one person whose spouse responded to the same vial. The explanations offered (a bad batch, the wrong route, not enough, needing another peptide first) are untested.

Can it make sleep worse?

Yes, according to many accounts. One person reported staying awake for 38 hours after 200 mcg while feeling alert; others slept badly on every dosing night and recovered after stopping, or managed about two hours of sleep across two nights. A nasal user said three of four doses were followed by no sleep at all. [68], [109], [129] In community education groups, feeling "wired", taking longer to fall asleep and sleeping better on nights off are recurring themes.

What unwanted effects come up?

The recurring complaints are next-day grogginess or a "hangover", vivid dreams and nightmares, headache and, in some, low mood or low motivation. Less common reports include a racing heart, dizziness and nausea during a week of changing nasal doses, and dry eyes. [110], [124], [109], [125], [130], [131], [132]

In community education groups, grogginess clusters after a first dose or a step up, often at 250–500 mcg, and often settles when the amount is halved or the dose is taken earlier in the evening. Disturbing nightmares are described by a sizeable minority, including one partner's report of screaming during sleep only on DSIP nights. Single reports include hives after injecting DSIP alongside another peptide, flushing and severe restless legs.

What do people combine it with?

Most accounts involve other sleep aids or peptides: melatonin, magnesium and glycine, Epitalon, Selank, growth-hormone-releasing peptides at bedtime, prescription sleeping pills, or ready-made blends that already contain melatonin and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid, a calming brain messenger). One person on DSIP, Selank and Epitalon said they could not tell which one helped. [110], [128]

In community education groups, many of the sleep problems people treat with DSIP started with another compound, especially weight-loss injections that act on GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1, a gut hormone that curbs appetite) and growth-hormone peptides taken at night, and several threads end with sleep improving once that dose was lowered or moved. Some people also describe cutting down prescription sleeping pills on DSIP, usually without their prescriber; changes to a prescribed medicine belong with the prescriber.

How can you judge a DSIP story?

Ask: Was it an injection, a home-made spray, a blend or the licensed drops? How many micrograms, rather than "units" or "sprays"? Was it the first night or the whole course? What else changed: melatonin, Epitalon, Selank, a weight-loss injection, caffeine, alcohol, a new sleep routine? How was sleep measured? A watch's "deep sleep" figure is not the brain-wave recording the sleep studies used, and people in community education groups note that different devices disagree. Did the person post again a month later?

How does DSIP compare with melatonin, glycine, Selank and Epitalon?

These are the compounds most often taken alongside DSIP or weighed against it for sleep. The table compares what each one is and how much human evidence exists.

The real differences are in how much has been tested. Melatonin has many placebo-controlled trials with modest effects, glycine has a few very small ones, DSIP has small intravenous studies with weak controlled results, and Selank and Epitalon have no sleep measurements at all. No study has compared DSIP directly with any of them for sleep; the only human comparison, in Russian children, measured psychiatric symptom scores and gave glycine to both groups. [51]

Prescription insomnia medicines are a different category: a US guideline gives weak recommendations for some, such as suvorexant, zolpidem and doxepin, for specific sleep problems. Ready-made DSIP sprays sometimes add GABA or L-theanine, which have their own small, mostly subjective studies. [136], [143], [144]

Common questions about DSIP

How long does DSIP take to work?

There is no reliable answer. In the 1981 volunteer study, sleep increased within about two hours of a morning infusion, and a Basel summary described a build-up over four doses. People using injections describe anything from a strong first night to a slow change over one to three weeks, and many notice nothing. Effects that do appear often fade. [29], [32], [126] See what people report.

Is DSIP better as an injection or a nasal spray?

Nobody knows, because neither the injections nor the home-made sprays sold online have been tested in people. The human sleep studies gave DSIP into a vein, the licensed Russian and Ukrainian products are nose drops with glycine, and no study has measured how much of an injected or sprayed dose reaches the blood. Users split on which route works for them, and some find neither does. [3], [10], [128] See how route changes exposure.

Does DSIP increase deep sleep?

Not reliably. Some animal studies found more delta sleep, others found none, and in people under anaesthesia delta activity fell at the lowest dose. The human insomnia studies with the best controls found little benefit, and no study has checked sleep-tracker "deep sleep" claims against brain-wave recordings. [4], [94], [42], [30] See how it might work.

Is DSIP a hormone your body makes?

That is unproven. It was isolated from rabbit blood, but no gene, precursor or receptor has been found in any species, and blood tests pick up a DSIP-like antibody signal rather than the intact peptide. In healthy people that signal peaks in the afternoon, not at night. [1], [6], [8] See what DSIP is.

Is DSIP the same as Deltaran?

No. Deltaran is a Russian nose-drop medicine that contains 300 mcg of DSIP plus 3 mg of glycine per ampoule, used for 5–10 days for stress-related conditions or alcohol withdrawal. Deltalicin is a similar Ukrainian nose drop with 300 mcg of DSIP and glycine. [22], [10] The research DSIP described on dosing websites is a separate product, most often injected. [16], [17] See the label doses.

Can DSIP replace sleeping pills?

There is no evidence that it can. It has never been compared with a prescription sleep medicine, and its best-controlled studies found little benefit for insomnia. Some people in community education groups describe cutting down sleeping pills while on DSIP; any change to a prescribed sleep medicine belongs with the prescriber. [2], [30], [136] See who should be cautious.

Can you take DSIP every night, long term?

Long-term use has not been studied. The intravenous studies lasted up to about two weeks, the longest Russian nose-drop studies ran for two months, the labels give 5–10-day courses, and the Ukrainian label allows a repeat after 4–8 weeks. Websites describe courses of up to 12 weeks, with or without breaks, which is a convention rather than a tested plan. [3], [50], [10], [20] See where protocols differ.

Glossary

Plain explanations of the route, dosing, sleep and research terms used in this guide. Underlined terms in the text link here.

ACTH

Adrenocorticotropic hormone, a pituitary hormone that tells the adrenal glands to release cortisol. Human studies measured it after DSIP with mixed results.

Adverse event

A harmful or unwanted medical event reported after someone used a treatment. A report alone does not prove the treatment caused it.

Aggregation

Peptide molecules clumping together. Clumps can make a product weaker and, when injected, more likely to trigger an immune reaction.

Amino acid

A small chemical building block. Chains of amino acids make up peptides and proteins.

Animal study

Research in animals such as rats or rabbits. It shows what a substance does in a living body, but results in people can differ.

Bioavailability

How much of a dose reaches the bloodstream in a usable form. It depends heavily on the route, and it has never been measured in people for subcutaneous or nasal DSIP.

Blood-brain barrier

The tightly sealed lining of the brain's blood vessels, which keeps most substances in the blood out of the brain.

Bradycardia

A slower than normal heart rate. The Russian DSIP label advises against use when it is severe.

Cell study (in vitro)

Research on cells or tissue in a dish. It gives early clues about biology, but it is far from proof of benefit in people.

Compounding

When a pharmacy prepares a customized medicine from individual ingredients. In the US, federal lists control which bulk ingredients pharmacies may use.

Controlled trial

A study that compares people who receive a treatment with a similar group who do not, often receiving a placebo instead. Randomly assigning people to each group makes the comparison fairer.

Course and cycle

A course is the period of repeated use, such as 10 nights. A cycle is a course plus a planned break before any further use.

Crossover study

A study in which each person receives both the treatment and the comparison, such as a placebo, at different times, so each acts as their own control.

Daily total

All the amounts given in one day, added together. For example, one 300 mcg ampoule three times a day is a 900 mcg daily total.

Delta sleep (slow-wave sleep)

The deepest stage of non-dream sleep, when brain-wave recordings show large, slow waves called delta waves. DSIP is named after these waves.

Dose (amount each time)

The amount given on one occasion. A protocol lists both the dose and how often it is given.

EEG

Electroencephalogram, a recording of the brain's electrical activity (brain waves) taken with sensors on the scalp.

Emideltide

The official international nonproprietary name for DSIP, proposed by the World Health Organization in 1993. FDA documents use this name.

External control

A comparison with people outside the study, such as healthy sleepers measured elsewhere, instead of a placebo group studied at the same time. It is a weaker comparison.

Half-life

The time it takes for the measured level of a substance in the blood to fall by half. It is not the same as how long an effect lasts.

Heart rate variability (HRV)

The small variation in time between heartbeats. It is usually higher when the body is relaxed and lower under stress or arousal.

Hypomania

A period of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, extra energy and less need for sleep, milder than full mania.

Immunoreactivity

A signal produced when an antibody test reacts with something in a sample. For DSIP it may come from the peptide or from larger, related molecules, so it is not proof that intact DSIP is present.

Insomnia

Ongoing difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early, with daytime effects. Chronic insomnia lasts for months.

Intranasal

Given into the nose, as drops or a spray, to be absorbed through its lining. The Russian and Ukrainian DSIP products are intranasal.

Intravenous (IV)

Given directly into a vein, so it enters the bloodstream immediately. All the human DSIP sleep studies used this route.

Investigational

Still being studied and not approved by a regulator, such as the FDA, to treat any condition.

Freeze-dried (lyophilized)

Dried by freezing and removing the water, leaving a powder. Research DSIP and the licensed ampoules are sold this way and dissolved before use.

mcg and mg

Micrograms and milligrams. 1 mg equals 1,000 mcg. Website DSIP amounts are usually in mcg; the study doses work out to about 1.5 mg for an adult.

Naloxone

A drug that blocks opioid receptors. When it cancels an effect in a study, that suggests the body's opioid system is involved.

nmol/kg

Nanomoles per kilogram of body weight, a dose measured by number of molecules. For DSIP, 25 nmol/kg equals 21.3 mcg per kg, about 1.5 mg for a 70 kg adult.

Open study

A study in which everyone knows who is getting the treatment, often with no comparison group. Expectations can easily shape the results.

Peptide

A short chain of amino acids. DSIP is a chain of nine.

Pharmacokinetics

How the body absorbs, moves, breaks down and removes a substance.

Placebo

A dummy treatment with no active ingredient, used as a comparison in studies.

Polysomnography

An overnight sleep-lab recording of brain waves, eye movements, muscle activity and breathing, used to measure sleep stages accurately.

Preclinical research

Studies done before research in people: cell studies and animal studies.

Reconstitution

Mixing a freeze-dried powder with a liquid so it can be measured. The amount of peptide in the vial and the volume of liquid set how much each unit or spray holds.

Registered medicine

A medicine a country's regulator has approved for sale for specific uses, with an official label. DSIP nose drops are registered in Russia and Ukraine, not in the United States or the European Union.

REM sleep

Rapid-eye-movement sleep, the stage in which most vivid dreaming happens.

Research use only

A label on products sold for laboratory research. It does not mean a product is approved, tested for human use or legal to sell as a medicine.

Sleep apnea

A condition in which breathing repeatedly stops or becomes shallow during sleep. It is diagnosed with a sleep test and often treated with a CPAP machine.

Sleep latency

The time it takes to fall asleep after trying to sleep.

Subcutaneous (SC)

Injected into the fatty layer just under the skin. Most DSIP dosing websites use this route, although no human study has tested it.

Syringe units

Markings on an insulin syringe that measure volume. On a U-100 syringe, 100 units equal 1 mL. The amount of drug per unit depends on the vial's concentration.

Titration

Adjusting a dose in steps, usually starting lower and increasing if needed.

WADA

The World Anti-Doping Agency, which publishes the list of substances banned in sport.

Withdrawal and rebound

Withdrawal effects are symptoms caused by stopping a substance. A rebound is a problem, such as insomnia, returning worse than before after stopping. Neither has been properly studied for DSIP.

Explore more of the research

Go deeper into the animal and laboratory experiments behind the mechanism claims.

Across this guide, the citations include 80 original scientific papers: 29 human studies and 51 cell, animal and laboratory studies. The optional library below summarizes selected animal and cell papers by question. Paper counts are not counts of independent research teams: much of the early work came from one Basel group, and most of the recent work from Russian groups linked to the nose-drop products.

In the route details, intraperitoneal means into the abdominal cavity, and intracerebroventricular means into the fluid spaces of the brain.

How this guide was researched

This guide is built from a thorough review of the sources cited throughout it: published scientific studies, official Russian and Ukrainian product labels, regulatory documents and published protocol descriptions. We also reviewed public online forums and community education groups where people describe their own experiences with DSIP.

The guide cites 159 sources, including 80 original scientific papers. Each type of source answers a different question. Studies show what researchers measured. Labels show how the licensed nose drops are meant to be used. Protocol descriptions show how DSIP is typically used online. Personal accounts show what individual people experienced. Every numbered citation links to its entry below, labeled by source type. We could not find a legally free full text of the Western human studies, so those entries rest on the original abstracts and FDA's 2026 summaries of the full papers.

How this guide was made

Research and drafting were AI-assisted. Every cited source was checked against the original, and the guide was reviewed and edited by Doserly before publication. It has not had an independent clinical review, and Doserly does not currently have medical reviewers. Doserly makes a medication and health-tracking app and runs Doserly Academy, both of which are promoted in this guide. Read our editorial policy for how guides are researched, updated and corrected.

This guide is for educational purposes. It summarizes what the reviewed sources report so the research is easier to understand; it is not medical advice. For a deeper dive, or to check any point for yourself, go straight to the cited sources.

Explore the sources