Hexarelin

Hexarelin is a lab-made peptide (a short chain of six amino acids) from a family known as growth-hormone-releasing peptides (GHRPs). It is studied in two ways: as something that tells the body to release growth hormone, and, unusually, as something that binds to a receptor in the heart. That makes it a useful lab tool for both hormone research and heart research.

How it works

Hexarelin turns on the ghrelin receptor (the growth-hormone-secretagogue receptor, GHS-R1a) to prompt growth-hormone release. Separately, researchers found it also attaches to a protein called CD36 in the heart, which drives heart-related effects that do not depend on growth hormone at all [1][2]. Researchers have described hexarelin as more chemically stable and more powerful than ghrelin (the body's own "hunger" peptide) in several lab tests [3].

Effects on hormones

As a growth-hormone-releasing peptide, hexarelin has been used to study how the pituitary gland puts out growth hormone in animal and cell experiments, alongside similar peptides [1].

What researchers have studied it for (heart research)

A large amount of early lab work has looked at hexarelin in heart tissue. Studies reported that the CD36 protein carries out its heart effects [2], that it shielded rat heart-muscle cells from damage caused by cut-off and then restored blood flow (called ischemia/reperfusion injury) through an interleukin-1 signal [3], and that it slowed the growth of scar-forming heart cells and their collagen buildup in rats [4]. More rodent work reported better heart-muscle function and less scarring in a heart-attack model [5]. These are results from animals and cells only.

What the research hasn't shown yet

The heart and hormone data come from rodents and cell studies. Whether it helps, and whether it is safe or works, in people is not established. This compound is supplied for laboratory research use only and is not meant for use in people or animals.

In the lab, lyophilized Hexarelin is generally reconstituted with bacteriostatic or sterile water and mixed by gentle swirling. Store the lyophilized powder at -20°C, hold reconstituted solution at 2-8°C, protect it from light, and avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles to maintain stability.