# DSIP: The Delta Sleep-Inducing Peptide, Counted From the Literature

> DSIP is a nine-amino-acid peptide named for slow-wave sleep EEG activity. No receptor identified. Effects inconsistent. A cited, plain-English readout of the research.

Nine residues. No identified receptor. Effects that many people never feel. The published record, counted and cited.

## The short version

DSIP is a tiny protein fragment — nine amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Scientists found it in 1977 in the blood of sleeping rabbits. They named it for what it seemed to do: boost the slow brain waves of deep sleep [1]. That is where the hype starts. The honest part is harder. After more than forty years, no one has found the cell receptor it acts on, or the gene that makes it. A 2006 review called it a "still unresolved riddle" [3]. People use DSIP hoping for deeper, easier sleep. Some get it. A large share feel nothing at all. It is not approved as a medicine anywhere, and it does not treat any sleep disorder. This site is a readout of what the studies measured — the wins, the gaps, and what people report. The downsides are on [DSIP effects](/effects).

## What the DSIP record shows

DSIP (delta sleep-inducing peptide) is an endogenous peptide — one the body makes itself. Sequence: Trp-Ala-Gly-Gly-Asp-Ala-Ser-Gly-Glu. Weight: 848.8 Da. It was isolated from the cerebral blood of rabbits in an electrically induced sleep state, and infusing it into the brain enhanced delta and spindle EEG activity — the electrical signature of deep sleep [1].

The headline is the longevity work. In female SHR mice, monthly courses of the DSIP preparation Deltaran (about 100 micrograms/kg, five days a month) raised maximum lifespan by 24.1%, extended the last 10% of survivors by 17.1%, and cut spontaneous tumor incidence 2.6-fold [5]. A separate mouse course extended the oldest 10% by about 16% and lowered tumor incidence [8]. Striking numbers. One caveat: most of this lifespan data comes from a small set of related research groups [5].

Human data is thinner. One acute intravenous dose of 25 nmol/kg improved disturbed sleep in six middle-aged chronic insomniacs — longer sleep, fewer interruptions, slightly more REM, no daytime grogginess — with the effect arriving in the second hour [2]. Six people. Not a modern trial. See the [DSIP peptide benefits](/benefits) page for the full lens.

## The gaps are part of the readout

Three readings on this dashboard are deliberately blank. No DSIP receptor has been identified. No DSIP gene or precursor protein has been isolated. No modern randomized controlled trial exists [3]. The 2006 review went further: it found native DSIP's sleep evidence "extremely poorly documented and still weak," and noted that synthetic analogs — not the natural peptide — drove the clearest sleep effects [3].

The dose-response is odd, too. It is parabolic: effect rises, then falls. More is not reliably stronger [3]. When the mechanism is unknown and the dose curve is non-monotonic, prediction breaks down. Read this as an open file, not a closed case.

## How to read this site

Every quantitative claim maps to a numbered source. Hover any [N] for the full citation. The [DSIP research](/research) page holds the mechanism and the studies. [DSIP effects](/effects) covers what people actually report — benefits and downsides, clearly labeled. Dosage is research-context only: no protocol, no human dose, no purchase. This is a literature readout. Nothing here is sold, and nothing here is medical advice. [DSIP references](/references) lists every source.

DSIP is not a sleeping pill. The community framing that holds up best: it nudges an existing sleep drive rather than overriding wakefulness. If a reader expects to be knocked out, the record predicts disappointment.

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A dark readout of the DSIP literature — every finding counted and cited, nothing prescribed and nothing sold.