SLU-PP-332 and MOTS-c arrive at the same label from opposite directions. Both are sold, and studied, as "exercise mimetics" — compounds that reproduce in a sedentary mouse some of what training does to muscle. One is a synthetic small molecule designed in a chemistry lab to switch on a family of nuclear receptors; the other is a peptide the body already makes, whose level rises when people exercise. Neither has been given to a person in a published study. This page compares what each paper actually measured, what each vial actually holds and how the anti-doping list treats them (sources re-read 2026-10-17), and converts the circulating figures into syringe units. It reports; it suggests no dose.
The full record for each is on SLU-PP-332 dosage and MOTS-c dosage. MOTS-c's comparison with the other small molecule sold beside it is on 5-Amino-1MQ vs MOTS-c.
Two routes to "exercise mimetic"
| SLU-PP-332 | MOTS-c | |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of molecule | Small molecule, C18H14N2O2, 290.3 g/mol | Peptide, 16 amino acids, 2,174.6 g/mol |
| Target | Estrogen-related receptors α, β, γ (highest potency at ERRα) | Folate cycle → AMP-activated protein kinase |
| Origin | Synthetic; first reported 2023 (Billon et al.) | Encoded in mitochondrial DNA (12S rRNA), described 2015 |
| Key exercise finding | Mice: more type IIa oxidative fibres, longer running endurance; effect needed ERRα | Mice of three ages: better physical performance; humans: exercise raises endogenous MOTS-c |
| Human material | Cultured myoblasts from muscle biopsies of 20 women (PMID 40692696) | Blood and muscle levels measured before and after exercise |
| Given to people? | No | No published study; one registration recruiting |
The phrase means something slightly different for each. For SLU-PP-332 it is a pharmacology claim: a drug that triggers the exercise gene programme. For MOTS-c it is partly a physiology observation: exercise produces more of it, and giving it to mice reproduced some effects of exercise. A 2026 systematic review of the ERR agonists concludes that "clinical trials are needed to confirm their efficacy and safety in humans" (Rev Med Chil, PMID 42024694); the same is true of MOTS-c.
What the mouse studies dosed
| SLU-PP-332 | MOTS-c | |
|---|---|---|
| Route | Intraperitoneal injection | Injection (route as each paper states) |
| Amount | 30 or 50 mg/kg, single or twice daily, 7–28 days (2023, 2024) | 15 mg/kg a day (Kumagai 2024); three times a week in old mice (Reynolds 2021) |
| Oral use | Developers report it lacks oral bioavailability; SLU-PP-915 made to fix that (2026) | Not studied orally |
The oral point matters more than it looks. SLU-PP-332 is sold as capsules as well as vials, and most vendor figures are by mouth — but its own developers describe it as lacking oral bioavailability, which is why they made a successor compound. A body-surface conversion of the mouse dose (dividing mg/kg by 12.3) gives roughly 570 mg a day for a 70 kg adult, as set out on the SLU-PP-332 page; vendor figures are 570 to 2,300 times smaller. Neither number is a human dose.
Molecules per milligram and per vial
| Amount | SLU-PP-332 | MOTS-c |
|---|---|---|
| 1 mg | 3.44 µmol | 0.46 µmol |
| 5 mg vial | 17.2 µmol | 2.30 µmol |
| 10 mg vial | 34.4 µmol | 4.60 µmol |
| 20 mg vial (SLU-PP-332 only) | 68.9 µmol | — |
Because SLU-PP-332 is about one seventh the size of MOTS-c, a 1 mg figure for SLU-PP-332 delivers about as many molecules as 7.5 mg of MOTS-c. Comparing the two by milligrams alone understates SLU-PP-332 several-fold; comparing by molecules says nothing about potency, since they act on different targets.
Regulator and sport status
| SLU-PP-332 | MOTS-c | |
|---|---|---|
| WADA 2026 list | Not named | S4.4.1, named among AMPK activators |
| Doping-control work | 2026: 22 metabolites (Drug Test Anal), 9 metabolites (Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom) from human liver fractions | Named on the list by its full name |
| FDA bulk-substance safety list | No record found on this site | "Has not identified any human exposure data … via any route" (as read 2026-10-12) |
| Approved product | None | None |
The 2026 Drug Test Anal paper states that WADA prohibits exercise mimetics and metabolic modulators, and the laboratories built SLU-PP-332 tests ahead of any listing. Whether SLU-PP-332 falls under the list's general wording is a question for the list's own text and its interpreters; this page reports only that the 2026 text does not name it. fda.gov returned errors to every request on 2026-10-17, so the MOTS-c line is as read five days earlier.
The circulating figures in syringe units
Vendor figures (this site's compound pages, 2026-09-18): SLU-PP-332 at 250 mcg to 1 mg a day by mouth, or 500 to 1,500 mcg a day by injection, from 5, 10 or 20 mg vials sometimes sold with a co-solvent; MOTS-c at 5 mg per injection two or three times a week, from 5 or 10 mg vials. On a U-100 syringe:
| Vial and water | Concentration | mcg per unit | 500 mcg | 1 mg | 1.5 mg | 5 mg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLU-PP-332 10 mg in 2 mL | 5 mg/mL | 50 | 10 units | 20 | 30 | — |
| SLU-PP-332 20 mg in 2 mL | 10 mg/mL | 100 | 5 units | 10 | 15 | — |
| MOTS-c 10 mg in 2 mL | 5 mg/mL | 50 | — | — | — | 100 units |
| MOTS-c 10 mg in 1 mL | 10 mg/mL | 100 | — | — | — | 50 units |
At the same 5 mg/mL, a SLU-PP-332 amount fills a fifth of the syringe or less and a MOTS-c amount fills all of it. A 10 mg SLU-PP-332 vial holds ten to twenty of the injected amounts; a 10 mg MOTS-c vial holds two. The capsule figures cannot be converted, since a capsule has no concentration, and a co-solvent added to a vial changes how it dissolves, not the arithmetic. Other combinations are worked by the SLU-PP-332 concentration sums and the MOTS-c vial arithmetic.
What is not established
Neither compound has a human dose, a completed human trial or an approved product. "Exercise mimetic" describes mouse results in both cases. SLU-PP-332's oral figures rest on no study and run against its developers' own report on oral bioavailability. Nothing has been published on taking the two together. Medibact's SLU-PP-332 guide and MOTS-c guide cover each compound. Product and dose decisions belong with a clinician.
Sources and dates
Opened 2026-10-17: PubChem CIDs 5338394 (SLU-PP-332) and 146675088 (MOTS-c, as read 2026-10-12); PubMed abstracts for PMIDs 36988910 (Billon 2023), 33473109 (Reynolds 2021), 42024694 (2026 systematic review), 41688415 and 41588687 (2026 metabolite studies); PubMed counts for SLU-PP-332 (10), MOTS-c (264) and both (0); ClinicalTrials.gov v2 API searches for SLU-PP-332 (0) and MOTS-c (9), including NCT07505745; the 2026 Prohibited List text in Tractatenblad 2026 no. 25. From this site's compound pages (opened 2026-09-18): PMIDs 37739806, 41421047, 40692696 and 38170165, the body-surface conversion and the vendor figures; the FDA statement on MOTS-c as read 2026-10-12. fda.gov did not answer on 2026-10-17. Molar and unit arithmetic by this site. Corrections go to the contact page.