Trinity compound research profile
GHRP-6 Acetate
GHRP-6 is one of the very first lab-made growth-hormone-boosting peptides ever created, developed in Cuba (research code CIGB-500). Like GHRP-2, it's a...
Research overview
GHRP-6 is one of the very first lab-made growth-hormone-boosting peptides ever created, developed in Cuba (research code CIGB-500). Like GHRP-2, it's a short chain of amino acids designed to mimic the natural hunger hormone ghrelin (Cabrales et al.; Berlanga-Acosta et al. 2017).
Mechanism under study
GHRP-6 works through two different "doors." First, like GHRP-2, it copies ghrelin and knocks on your pituitary gland's door to release growth hormone, while also making you hungry. Second, it also knocks on a completely different door found on heart cells, blood vessel cells, and immune cells, called CD36. Through this second door, it can trigger protective effects that have nothing to do with growth hormone at all — like helping cells survive stress and calming down inflammation (Berlanga-Acosta et al. 2017).
Human evidence summary
A safety study gave increasing doses (from very small up to a large amount) by injection into a vein to 18 healthy men, and everyone tolerated all six dose levels reasonably well. Some people had mild side effects like sweating, a slower heartbeat, and sleepiness, but nothing serious happened and everything went away without treatment (Selman-Housein Bernal et al. 2014). GHRP-6 also reliably raises stress hormones (cortisol) — doctors even use this feature to help diagnose a hormone condition called Cushing's disease (PMID 16832586). In children with real growth hormone deficiency, 8 months of treatment sped up their growth rate (Mericq/Bowers 1998). No human trial has tested whether it protects the heart — that evidence is animal-only (see below).
Preclinical evidence summary
This is where most of the exciting research on GHRP-6 exists. In pigs having a simulated heart attack, GHRP-6 rescued more than 70% of the heart tissue that would have otherwise died. In dogs with heart failure who then had a heart attack, GHRP-6 treatment led to 100% survival over 21 days, compared to only about 50% survival without it (Berlanga-Acosta et al. 2017). This is very promising, but it's important to understand this is animal research only — no human study has confirmed these heart-protection benefits happen the same way in people.
Source material
Use the linked publications and records to evaluate study design, population, limitations, and relevance.