Sleep

DSIP (Delta Sleep-Inducing Peptide)

Reviewed 22 October 2026 · How we research

Also known as: Delta Sleep-Inducing Peptide, Emideltide

What is DSIP?

DSIP (delta sleep-inducing peptide) is a nine-amino-acid peptide first isolated in 1977 from the blood of rabbits whose brains were electrically stimulated into deep sleep. Injected into other rabbits, it appeared to increase delta-wave (deep) sleep — hence the name.

Nearly fifty years later, it remains something of a riddle: no specific receptor or gene for it has been identified, and human sleep studies were small and inconsistent.

How DSIP works

Proposed mechanisms include modulation of GABA and glutamate (NMDA) signalling, effects on stress hormones (reducing ACTH and cortisol responses), and antioxidant effects. DSIP crosses the blood-brain barrier in animal studies. None of these mechanisms has been clearly linked to its sleep effects.

What the research shows

• The original rabbit studies reported increased delta sleep after infusion.
• Small human studies in the 1980s in insomnia found modest improvements in some measures of sleep, but not consistently.
• Researchers also studied it in withdrawal from alcohol and opiates, with small, uncontrolled results.

DSIP side effects

Small human studies reported few side effects; headache, nausea and transient fatigue are described anecdotally. There are no modern controlled safety trials.

UK legal status

DSIP is not licensed in the UK and is sold only as a research chemical.

More detail, including current UK research-vial prices: DSIP UK guide. For the doses used in published studies and the reconstitution maths: DSIP dosing in the literature.

References

1. Schoenenberger GA, Monnier M. Characterization of a delta-electroencephalogram (-sleep)-inducing peptide. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1977;74:1282–1286.
2. Kovalzon VM, Strekalova TV. Delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP): a still unresolved riddle. J Neurochem. 2006;97:303–309.