CJC-1295 (No DAC): What It Is and What It Does

What CJC-1295 (No DAC) is

CJC-1295 in its no-DAC form (also called modified GRF 1-29) is a lab-made analog of growth-hormone-releasing hormone, GHRH. It is supplied as an analytical-grade reference material for laboratory research.

Where it comes from

CJC-1295 was created in the early 2000s by the biotech company ConjuChem as part of an effort to make the body's growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) last far longer than it naturally does. Native GHRH survives only a couple of minutes in the bloodstream. Researchers started from the active 1-29 fragment of GHRH and added stabilizing amino-acid substitutions; a 2005 paper in Endocrinology described attaching this modified fragment to albumin to identify CJC-1295 as a long-lasting analog. The 'no-DAC' version studied here keeps the stabilizing tweaks without the albumin-binding attachment.

What it does — in plain terms

Your brain sends GHRH to the pituitary gland as a 'please make some growth hormone' message. CJC-1295 copies that message, but small structural tweaks make it more stable, so it lasts longer than natural GHRH. In research it's used to study how stimulating the GHRH receptor changes the release of growth hormone and its downstream messenger IGF-1 — and, notably, the studies found the pituitary keeps firing in its natural pulses rather than one flat surge. The no-DAC version is shorter-acting than the albumin-binding 'DAC' version, so labs pick one or the other depending on the experiment.

How it works

Growth hormone starts with a message from the brain: the hypothalamus sends growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) to the pituitary gland, telling it to release a pulse of growth hormone. CJC-1295 is a lab-made copy of the business end of that message — the first 29 amino acids of GHRH — carrying small substitutions that protect it from the enzymes that normally chew up natural GHRH within minutes. The result is a GHRH-receptor agonist that holds together much longer.

The most-studied version, the one behind the original human data, went a step further: a 'drug affinity complex' (DAC) let the peptide latch onto albumin, a long-lived blood protein, extending its action to days. In healthy adults, that albumin-binding form produced sustained increases in growth hormone and its downstream messenger IGF-1. A striking finding was that the pituitary kept firing in its natural pulses rather than pouring out one continuous flat stream — the rhythm was preserved even under prolonged stimulation.

The 'no-DAC' form supplied here shares the same stabilized GHRH backbone but omits the albumin anchor, so it acts over a shorter window. Researchers choose between the two depending on the experiment — the DAC form for long, steady stimulation, the no-DAC form when a briefer, more pulse-like signal is wanted. Both are tools for asking the same underlying question: what happens downstream when you switch on the GHRH receptor.

What the research shows

The CJC-1295 literature is modest but includes real human data, which is unusual for this corner of peptide research. The core studies are small trials in healthy adults plus animal and biochemistry work, and much of the striking human data — days-long hormone elevation — comes specifically from the albumin-binding 'DAC' form rather than the shorter-acting no-DAC version. These are mechanism-and-pharmacology studies, not large clinical-outcome trials. With that framing, here is what the key work reports.

• The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2006 — reported that CJC-1295, a long-acting GHRH analog, produced prolonged increases in growth hormone and IGF-1 secretion in healthy adults.
• The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2006 — found that growth hormone continued to be secreted in natural pulses even during continuous stimulation by CJC-1295, rather than as one flat, uninterrupted release.
• American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2006 — showed that once-daily CJC-1295 normalized growth in a mouse engineered to lack its own GHRH, restoring the growth-hormone axis in an animal model.
• Endocrinology, 2005 — described attaching a modified GHRH(1-29) fragment to albumin, identifying CJC-1295 as a long-lasting analog that still activates the GHRH (GRF) receptor.

What CJC-1295 (No DAC) is studied for

GHRH-receptor stimulation. At its core, CJC-1295 is a stabilized copy of GHRH that switches on the same receptor, letting researchers study growth-hormone release with a signal that lasts far longer than the native hormone.

Growth hormone and IGF-1 output. In healthy-adult studies the analog raised both growth hormone and its downstream messenger IGF-1, the readout used to confirm the axis is being driven.

Preserved pulsatility. A notable finding was that the pituitary kept releasing growth hormone in its natural rhythmic pulses even under continuous stimulation — an important detail for understanding how the system self-regulates.

Long-acting analog design. The albumin-binding 'DAC' chemistry was the point of the original work: it showed how a short-lived hormone fragment could be engineered into a days-long analog, with the no-DAC form offering a shorter alternative.

Storage & handling

As a lyophilized powder, CJC-1295 (no-DAC) reference material keeps best cold and dark — refrigerated for short-term storage, frozen for longer holds. After reconstitution with bacteriostatic water it should be refrigerated at roughly 2–8 °C, protected from light, and kept away from repeated freeze-thaw cycles, which degrade peptides. See the reconstitution reference below for the concentration math. Supplied for laboratory research use only.

Reconstitution reference

Standard laboratory reconstitution volumes for CJC-1295 (No DAC), from the VNG Reconstitution Sheet. See the full reconstitution guide for the method and concentration math.