MGF Research Peptide

MGF, or mechano growth factor, is a synthetic research peptide of 24 amino acids taken from the end of the E domain of IGF-1Ec, a splice variant of the IGF-1 gene. It does not contain the mature IGF-1 hormone itself. It is used in research on how muscle, nerve and heart cells respond to load and damage.

The name comes from the 1996 discovery that this IGF-1 splice variant appeared in rabbit muscle subjected to stretch, but was barely detectable in resting muscle. Because mechanical signals seemed to switch it on, the Goldspink group called it mechano growth factor. The name was later carried over to the synthetic E-domain peptide.

IGF-1 is made as a longer precursor. The 70-residue mature hormone is followed by an extension called the E domain, which is normally cut off before the hormone is released. Different splicing of the gene produces different E domains, named Ea, Eb and Ec. MGF is built from the distinctive end of the human Ec version, not from the hormone.

Most published work and most suppliers use the last 24 residues of the human IGF-1Ec E domain. UniProt gives these as YQPPSTNKNTKSQRRKGSTFEERK. Many retail listings instead end in ...EEHK, often with an amidated end, and rodent IGF-1Eb sequences differ at several positions. The batch mass spectrometry result shows which version a vial contains.

They come from opposite ends of the same precursor. IGF-1 LR3 is an 83-residue analogue of the mature hormone, designed to bind its receptor while avoiding IGF binding proteins. MGF is the 24-residue E-domain tail and contains none of the hormone sequence, so it is studied for actions separate from, or alongside, the hormone.

MGF is the unmodified 24-residue peptide and is the form used in nearly all published E-domain studies. PEG-MGF is the same peptide with a polyethylene glycol chain attached, a modification usually intended to slow breakdown and clearance.

Yes. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s 2026 Prohibited List names “Mechano growth factors (MGFs)” under section S2, peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and mimetics, as substances prohibited at all times.

After muscle damage, the MGF transcript rose rapidly and fell back within a few days, while IGF-1Ea rose more slowly as MGF declined. Satellite cell markers peaked before IGF-1Ea did. The authors read this as MGF starting the repair process by activating stem cells, with IGF-1Ea following to support the rebuilding phase.

This is the central open question. Studies in myoblasts, neurons and heart cells reported effects that appeared not to involve the IGF-1 receptor. A 2012 study with rodent E-peptides found the opposite: their effects on signalling, proliferation and migration needed the receptor, and the peptides increased the receptor’s availability at the cell surface.

It was a careful attempt to reproduce earlier findings using several cell types. MGF peptides up to 500 nanograms per millilitre did not increase proliferation or delay differentiation of mouse or human myoblasts, or of primary mouse muscle stem cells, while mature IGF-1 did. It is the main published negative result.

Yes. In a 2011 study the 24-residue peptide lengthened the proliferative life span of primary satellite cells from neonatal and young adult human muscle, though not from older adult muscle, and increased cell fusion at every age tested.

MGF is not a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; the Class C list of polypeptide hormones covers somatropin, somatrem, somatotropin and chorionic gonadotrophins, not IGF-1 fragments. There is no licensed medicine containing MGF in the UK. It is sold as a research compound for laboratory use only, which is how Crown Peptides supplies it. This is general information, not legal advice.

MGF is coming soon to Crown Peptides in 2mg vials, available singly or in packs of 3, 5 or 10 with a saving on every vial. Orders ship from the UK, and every batch is independently tested, with its Certificate of Analysis published on this page once stock arrives.

Two milligrams of a peptide of about 2,868 daltons is roughly 0.7 micromoles. At 500 nanograms per millilitre, the highest concentration used in the 2014 myoblast study, 2mg would make about four litres of culture medium. The 5 and 10-vial packs keep a longer project on a single batch.

Keep the unreconstituted powder at -20°C ± 5°C, dry and away from light. The sequence carries six lysines and arginines, so the peptide is strongly positively charged and can stick to glass and some plastics in dilute solution, and its two asparagines can slowly deamidate once dissolved. Prepared solutions should follow conditions validated for your study design.