Gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 and short bowel syndrome in rats
Sever et al./PubMed/2009
Why It Matters
BPC-157 gets attention in self-experimentation circles for gut healing, but this is rat data only — no human trials exist for short bowel syndrome. The fact that oral dosing worked as well as injection is interesting mechanistically, but translating rodent intestinal surgery outcomes to human gut optimization is a stretch. Not a doctor. Just a guy who reads the papers.
Key Findings
- Control rats with 85% small bowel resection lost weight immediately and showed 2x deeper intestinal crypts and 4x thicker muscle layers within one week
- Both oral (in drinking water) and injected BPC-157 at 10 μg/kg or 10 ng/kg prevented weight loss — rats gained weight above pre-surgery levels throughout the 4-week study
- BPC-157 treatment maintained normal villus height, crypt depth, and muscle thickness compared to the excessive compensatory growth seen in untreated rats
- Treated rats maintained normal diameter ratios between jejunum and ileum, while control rats showed severe overdilation
- Anastomosis (surgical connection) breaking strength increased with BPC-157 treatment, indicating better tissue healing
Read the Paper↗PMID: 19093208