Following.
This is some good stuff. I'm familiar with SLU-PP-332, but not the 915 version. And yeah, MOTS-c is a love hate relationship.
My experiment to find a MOTS-c replacement
Started by Peptide Protocols•Some of you know I love MOTS-c. The problem is that MOTS-c doesn't love me. I was dosing about 3x a week and starting from 500mcg I got up to 1.5mcg. The initial pins gave me a nice bee sting and a little raindrop sized welt with some minor redness around the area. Not really a big deal. Then once I got to 1.5mg I'd get big welts under the skin and some itching. I decided to move away from ab pins and go to the glute. The first two pins went okay and then the big welts returned. I went back down to 1mg which helped, but just gave me smaller welts under the skin. I then tried the hip / thigh and got the same itchy welts. This is when I gave up. I really like MOTS-c too and just had this strange invincibility feeling. During soccer games it gave me this confidence that I could just run my opponent into the ground. I'm sure some of that was placebo, but either way I was digging the results.
I quit you MOTS-c. Made it through 2 x 10mg vials and quit maybe halfway through my 3rd vial which was 40mg. I even tried diluting it further and that changed nothing. I tried BAC water and BAC sodium chloride. No difference in either. I even tried generic Zyrtec 60min before which helped at first, and then seemed to not help at all. Sad panda....
How am I going to try and replace MOTS-c? I'm glad I asked. Best combo I was able to come up with via research is the following stack:
SLU-PP-915: Not a peptide. Hits ERRα/β/γ — the nuclear receptors that run the aerobic-exercise gene program with PGC-1α (fat oxidation, mito genes, Ddit4). SLU-PP-332 was the IP tool that wasn’t orally bioavailable; 915 was built to fix that. Mouse data: better run-to-exhaustion; heart-failure models looked better on EF/fibrosis. Zero human trials. I’m treating this as a short cycle, not a forever daily.
O-304 (ATX-304): Small molecule (not a peptide). It activates AMPK without tanking ATP the way metformin does, and it also gives mitochondria a mild boost. In a human study with obese/prediabetic people it raised resting metabolic rate about 8%, lowered liver fat, visceral fat, and triglycerides, and raised adiponectin. Closest oral thing I’ve found to the metabolic side of MOTS-c.
PQQ 20–40 mg/day: Pyrroloquinoline quinone. Helps your body make more mitochondria (different pathway from ATX or SLU). Most human studies used 10–20 mg and saw benefits for cognition, sleep, and inflammation. I’m running a 40 mg cap right now and may drop to every other day. Complements the other two instead of overlapping with them.
I'm staggering this stack at first just because I don't like introducing all 3 at once. I started with SLU-PP-915 for about 4 days and then today I just introduced ATX-304. I took them about 60min before the gym and I felt really good. Strong with good muscle endurance during weight training. I'm also on Creatine, so worth noting. Tomorrow my PQQ arrives, but I think I'll wait a few days before introducing it. So that's the entire plan and I'll keep this thread updated. Feel free to chime in, ask questions, etc, etc.
