BPC-157: A Research Primer

BPC-157 is a synthetic peptide, a 15-amino-acid fragment with the sequence GEPPPGKPADDAGLV. It is a partial sequence copied from a larger protein found in gastric juice that researchers named Body Protection Compound, which is where the letters come from. You will also see it written in the literature as PL 14736. That is the entire identity in two sentences. Everything below is the detail behind it.

This is an identity primer, not a usage page. It covers what the molecule is, what the numbers on the label mean, which corners of the research literature reference it, and how it is handled and tested as a reagent.

What BPC-157 is

BPC-157 is a short, fully synthetic peptide. "Synthetic partial sequence" is the accurate phrase. Chemists build the 15-residue chain from scratch rather than extracting anything from tissue, and those 15 residues correspond to one stretch of a much longer parent protein.

That parent protein was isolated from gastric juice and named Body Protection Compound by the group that first described it. BPC-157 is the fragment numbered from it. The name therefore belongs to the source protein's nomenclature, not to any property established for the fragment. Read "Body Protection Compound" as where the acronym came from, nothing more.

The chemistry on the label

These are the values that pin down exactly which molecule is in the vial. If you are logging a lot or comparing two sources, the CAS number is the one that settles arguments.

• CAS number: 137525-51-0
• Molecular formula: C62H98N16O22
• Molecular weight: 1419.53 g/mol
• Amino-acid sequence: GEPPPGKPADDAGLV (15 residues)
• Other names: PL 14736, Body Protection Compound-157

A name can be written a dozen ways and a formula can be transcribed wrong. A CAS registry number cannot. So when you cross-check a supplier's identity claim against a certificate, match the CAS number first and the sequence second.

Where it appears in the research literature

BPC-157 shows up in two clusters of the published literature: tissue research and gastrointestinal research. Those are subject areas, not results. Naming a field a compound has been studied in is a statement about what researchers have looked at, not about any outcome.

I am deliberately not summarizing findings here. This category has a hard line between describing a compound's identity and describing what anyone claims it does, and a primer stays on the identity side of that line. If you want to read the actual studies, the sequence and CAS number above are what you search on.

How it is supplied

BPC-157 is supplied lyophilized, meaning freeze-dried to a dry solid. Peptides are shipped this way because a solid is far more stable in transit than a solution, and the dry cake keeps its integrity as long as it stays cold and sealed.

Store it at -20C. As with most lyophilized peptides, keep the vial sealed until you are working with it, limit its exposure to moisture and repeated temperature swings, and handle it as the laboratory reagent it is. Storage guidance here is reagent handling, not preparation instructions.

How each lot is tested

Every lot should come with its own certificate of analysis, and BPC-157 is no exception. The two tests that matter are identity and purity. Mass spectrometry confirms the molecule is the one on the label, and HPLC measures how much of the sample is the target peptide versus related impurities, read at 220 nm, the standard wavelength for peptide bonds.

Our BPC-157 lots are third-party tested at independent labs, including BT Labs in West Palm Beach, Florida and Krause Analytical in Austin, Texas, with the full per-lot COA PDF published on each batch page. If you have not read one of these documents before, we wrote a full walkthrough on [how to read a peptide COA](/research/how-to-read-a-peptide-coa) using two of our own reports, one of them a BPC-157 lot.

A primer tells you what a compound is. A certificate tells you whether the vial in front of you matches. For the sourcing side of that question, our checklist on [buying research peptides in Canada](/research/buying-research-peptides-canada) covers what else to verify before you order.

*All products are supplied as laboratory reagents for research use only. Not for human or veterinary use.*