Delta sleep inducing peptide (DSIP) stimulates the release of LH but not FSH via a hypothalamic site of action in the rat.
Iyer. K S KS; McCann. S M SM
Key Findings
- DSIP injected into the third ventricle of ovariectomized rats raised LH levels within 30 minutes, lasting up to 2 hours.
- The minimal effective intracerebral dose was 1 µg; higher doses (5 µg) gave a bigger LH rise, especially after estradiol pretreatment.
- DSIP did not affect FSH and did not act directly on pituitary cells; instead it stimulated LHRH release from hypothalamic median eminence fragments in vitro.
Practical Outcomes
- For biohackers, the study hints that DSIP might influence LH, a hormone linked to testosterone and reproductive health, but the effect was only seen with direct brain injection in rats. There’s no evidence that oral, nasal, or injectable DSIP in humans will have the same impact, so no specific dosing protocol can be recommended. Use caution and treat this as a mechanistic clue rather than a ready‑to‑apply supplement strategy.
Summary
In rats, injecting the sleep‑related peptide DSIP directly into the brain boosted the hormone LH (which helps control sex hormones) but didn’t change FSH. The effect came from the hypothalamus, not the pituitary, and was stronger when the animals had extra estrogen. The smallest dose that worked was 1 µg, but this was given straight into the brain, not by a route people can use.
Abstract
Long term ovariectomized (OVX) Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intraventricularly (3rd ventricle) with 5 micrograms (2 microliter) of DSIP. This caused a significant elevation (p = 0.01) of LH levels within 30 min. The values remained elevated for 2 hr; however, FSH levels remained unchanged. The minimal effective dose of DSIP to evoke this effect was 1 microgram. If plasma PH was lowered by pretreatment of the animals with estradiol, the 5 micrograms dose evoked an even greater effect to elevate LH significantly at 30 and 60 min following its intraventricular injection. To determine the site of action of DSIP, dispersed, overnight cultured pituitary cells from OVX rats were incubated with varying concentrations (10(-7) to 10(-12) M) of DSIP in an in vitro system. There was no response to DSIP from the cells in the above system. To evaluate its possible action on the hypothalamus, median eminence (ME) fragments from male rats were incubated in vitro with DSIP in varying concentrations from 10(-7) to 10(-10) M. There was a significant (p less than 0.001) increase in LHRH released from the ME at a concentration of DSIP of 10(-7) M. A sleep-related increase in LH release is seen during puberty in man. It is possible that DSIP released within the hypothalamus may play a physiological role in sleep-related LH release.
Study Information
pubmed
1987
1987-11-01T00:00:00.000Z
10.1016/0361-9230(87)90069-4
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