Peptide tracking glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms that come up when you track an injectable peptide routine - from reconstitution and concentration to half-life and site rotation. These are definitions only: no doses, no amounts, no figures. Where a term has a dedicated Pepti page, the term links to it.
- Peptide
- A short chain of amino acids; many tracked peptides are given by subcutaneous injection.
- Amino acid
- The building-block molecules that link together to form peptides and proteins.
- Reconstitution
- Adding a sterile liquid to a freeze-dried powder to turn it into an injectable solution.
- Lyophilised
- Freeze-dried; a powder with the water removed, kept dry until it is reconstituted.
- Bacteriostatic water
- Sterile water containing a preservative that inhibits bacterial growth, used to reconstitute many peptides.
- Diluent
- The liquid added to a powder during reconstitution, such as bacteriostatic or sterile water.
- Concentration
- How much substance is dissolved per unit of liquid, set by the powder amount and the diluent volume.
- mg/mL
- A concentration unit: milligrams of substance per millilitre of liquid.
- Draw volume
- The volume of solution pulled into the syringe for a given figure, found by dividing that figure by the concentration.
- Vial
- The small sealed bottle that holds the powder or solution you draw from.
- U-100
- A syringe scale on which one millilitre is divided into one hundred marked units.
- Insulin syringe
- A fine syringe marked in units rather than millilitres, commonly U-100, used for subcutaneous injections.
- Syringe units
- The unit marks on an insulin syringe; on a U-100 syringe the full millilitre reads as one hundred of them.
- Needle gauge
- A number describing needle thickness, where a higher number means a thinner needle.
- Dead space
- The small volume left in the syringe hub and needle after injecting, which is not delivered.
- Subcutaneous
- Into the layer of fat just beneath the skin; the route used for most tracked peptides.
- Intramuscular
- Into a muscle; a different injection route from subcutaneous.
- Intranasal
- Given as a spray into the nose rather than by injection.
- Injection site
- The specific place on the body where an injection is given.
- Injection site rotation
- Deliberately moving between sites so the same spot is not used repeatedly.
- Aseptic technique
- Handling vials, needles and skin so as to avoid introducing contamination.
- Sharps
- Used needles and syringes, disposed of in a dedicated puncture-proof container.
- Half-life
- The time it takes for half of the substance present to be cleared.
- Steady state
- The point at which what goes in each interval roughly balances what clears, so levels stop rising overall.
- Elimination
- The process by which the body clears a substance over time.
- Clearance
- The rate at which a substance is removed from the circulation.
- Peak
- The highest level reached after an injection before it begins to fall.
- Trough
- The lowest level reached in an interval, just before the next injection.
- Pharmacokinetics
- The study of how a substance is absorbed, distributed, broken down and cleared over time.
- Bioavailability
- The share of an administered amount that actually reaches the circulation.
- Titration
- Adjusting an amount in steps over time; Pepti records the dates an amount changes but supplies no titration schedule of its own.
- Protocol
- A personal plan for what is taken and when; Pepti records what you did and does not prescribe a protocol.
- Cycle
- A defined period of use, often followed by a break.
- Cadence
- The rhythm of injections over time, such as the gap a half-life makes sensible.
- Washout
- A deliberate break during which a substance clears before any further use.
- Stack
- The combination of more than one compound used together; Pepti logs each separately and advises nothing about combinations.
- Lot number
- The manufacturer's batch identifier printed on the vial, worth logging in case of a recall.
- Certificate of Analysis (COA)
- A laboratory document reporting a batch's identity and purity, obtained from the supplier rather than a tracker.
- Purity
- The proportion of a sample that is the intended substance rather than impurities.
- Potency
- How much active substance a preparation actually contains relative to its label.
- Beyond-use date
- The date after which a reconstituted or opened vial should no longer be used.
- Cold chain
- Keeping a product within a required temperature range from manufacture to use.
- Freeze-thaw
- Repeated freezing and thawing, which can degrade some peptides and is generally avoided.
- Light-sensitive
- Degraded by exposure to light, so stored and handled away from it.
- Agonist
- A molecule that activates a receptor to produce a response.
- Receptor
- A protein a molecule binds to in order to produce an effect in the body.
- GLP-1
- Glucagon-like peptide-1, a receptor targeted by several metabolic compounds.
- GIP
- Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, a second incretin receptor some compounds target.
- Incretin
- A class of gut hormones, including GLP-1 and GIP, that act on metabolism.
- Solution
- A liquid in which a substance is fully dissolved, as after proper reconstitution.
For the tools these terms describe, see the reconstitution calculator, the half-life decay calculator, the injection site rotation guide, and the compound reference index. To keep the record itself, see the peptide tracker app or the free spreadsheet template.
Reference only. This glossary defines terms; it does not recommend any compound, dose, or schedule. Not medical advice; Pepti is a record-keeping and measurement tool, not a medical device.
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