MOTS-c Reconstitution Calculator (mg → units)
A 10 mg vial of MOTS-c mixed with 2 mL of bacteriostatic water holds 5,000 mcg/mL, so a 5 mg dose is 1 mL — 100 units on a U-100 insulin syringe. Change the vial, water or dose below, or read the chart for other mixes.
MOTS-c dilution chart: 5 mg in units
| Vial | + 1 mL water | + 2 mL water | + 3 mL water | Doses per vial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 mg | 100 U 1 mL · 5,000 mcg/mL | 200 U 2 mL · 2,500 mcg/mL over 1 mL — more than one syringe | 300 U 3 mL · 1,667 mcg/mL over 1 mL — more than one syringe | 1 |
| 10 mg | 50 U 0.5 mL · 10,000 mcg/mL | 100 U 1 mL · 5,000 mcg/mL | 150 U 1.5 mL · 3,333 mcg/mL over 1 mL — more than one syringe | 2 |
1 mL = 100 units on a U-100 syringe. Water volume changes the units per dose, never the number of doses in the vial.
Measuring MOTS-c: the math that matters
MOTS-c amounts are quoted in whole milligrams, and at those sizes the syringe fills up quickly. With a 10 mg vial and 2 mL of bacteriostatic water the solution is 5,000 mcg/mL, so 5 mg is 1 mL, a full 100-unit U-100 syringe. With 1 mL of water the same 5 mg is 50 units. Adding 3 mL would push 5 mg to 150 units, more than one syringe.
A 5 mg vial is a single portion at this amount. Mixed with 1 mL it is 5,000 mcg/mL and the whole vial is 100 units. In practice a little liquid always stays behind in the vial and in the needle hub, so drawing a single-portion vial to the last drop comes up slightly short. If the amount you enter equals the whole vial, expect the real draw to be a bit less.
Because the per-draw volume is already large, the usual reason to add more water, making small doses easier to read, does not apply. Here the useful question is the opposite: how concentrated can the solution be while the powder still dissolves fully. With a 10 mg vial, 1 mL gives 50 units per 5 mg and leaves room in the syringe; 2 mL gives exactly 100.
The research numbers for MOTS-c are a trap for this calculator. Mouse studies used 5 or 15 mg per kilogram of body weight, injected into the abdominal cavity. Multiplying those by a human body weight gives hundreds of milligrams, and interspecies dosing does not scale that way. mg/kg figures from rodent papers should never be entered here.
Common MOTS-c measuring mistakes
- Multiplying a rodent mg/kg dose by human body weight and entering the result.
- Adding 3 mL to a 10 mg vial and ending up with a 5 mg draw larger than the syringe.
- Expecting to recover the full labelled amount from a single-portion 5 mg vial.
- Entering 5 with the unit set to mcg, which gives 0.1 units at 5,000 mcg/mL.
- Reusing units from a 10 mg vial on a 5 mg vial mixed with the same water volume. The 5 mg vial needs twice the units.