CJC No-DAC/Ipa: Research Blend Profile

CJC No-DAC/Ipa is not a single molecule but a pairing of two peptides that engage different receptors on the same growth-hormone axis. That is the reason the two are so often studied side by side: one acts through the GHRH receptor, the other through the ghrelin receptor, and the research interest lies in how the two pathways sit next to each other. This profile covers what each constituent is and what the preclinical literature attributes to the pair. For the wider class, see the growth-hormone secretagogues overview.

What is CJC No-DAC/Ipa?#

CJC No-DAC/Ipa is a research blend of two constituents. The first is CJC-1295 without DAC, also listed as Modified GRF 1-29, a synthetic analog of the first 29 residues of growth-hormone-releasing hormone, GHRH(1-29). It carries four amino-acid substitutions for enzymatic stability but lacks the Drug Affinity Complex albumin tether, so it clears in minutes and is studied for short, pulse-like GHRH-receptor engagement. The second is Ipamorelin, a synthetic pentapeptide (Aib-His-D-2-Nal-D-Phe-Lys-NH₂) that acts as a selective agonist at the ghrelin / growth-hormone-secretagogue receptor (GHS-R). Because the two constituents act on separate receptors, catalogs describe the pairing as complementary rather than redundant. Each has its own full identity record: CJC-1295 No DAC and Ipamorelin.

Why are the two peptides studied together?#

The pairing exists because the two constituents engage the growth-hormone axis through separate receptors. CJC-1295 No DAC binds the GHRH receptor, the site the natural releasing hormone uses; Ipamorelin binds the ghrelin / GHS receptor, the site the hormone ghrelin uses. Ipamorelin was characterized by Raun and colleagues (1998) as one of the first genuinely selective GH secretagogues, engaging the GHS receptor with minimal effect on other pituitary hormones, and its pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic behavior was mapped by Gobburu and colleagues (1999). Because these two receptors are distinct, the literature treats GHRH analogs and ghrelin mimetics as complementary tools rather than interchangeable ones. The receptor-level comparison is laid out in CJC-1295 vs Ipamorelin.

What does the research literature study?#

The research on each constituent is receptor-centered. For the GHRH-analog half, the foundational pharmacology of the CJC-1295 scaffold was documented by Teichman and colleagues (2006) for the long-acting DAC form, while the rapid clearance of the unconjugated GHRH(1-29) backbone that the No-DAC form retains was characterized earlier for GRF(1-29)-NH2. For the ghrelin-secretagogue half, the Raun characterization established the GHS-receptor selectivity that defines Ipamorelin as a research reference compound. Framed as a pair, the literature is interested in how a short GHRH-receptor signal and a ghrelin-receptor signal sit alongside one another on the somatotroph pathway. All of this is preclinical research framing conducted in cell and animal models, and it does not speak to effects in people. The two constituents are cataloged together as the research pairing CJC No-DAC/Ipa, and the ghrelin-receptor constituent is also cataloged on its own as Ipamorelin.

Where the blend sits in the secretagogue class#

The growth-hormone secretagogue class splits along two receptor lines: GHRH-receptor analogs such as CJC-1295 and Tesamorelin, and ghrelin-receptor mimetics such as Ipamorelin. CJC No-DAC/Ipa is notable because it carries one representative from each line in a single research formulation, which is why it functions as a paired study article rather than a single-mechanism entry. The individual mechanism records live in the two constituent profiles (CJC-1295 No DAC, Ipamorelin); the broader map of the class is in the growth-hormone secretagogues overview.

Handling and storage#

Both constituents are supplied as a lyophilized solid and dissolved prior to use, and a blend is handled the same way as a single peptide. The reconstitution primer addresses solvent selection and avoiding aggregation, and the cold-chain article addresses how storage stability changes once the powder is in solution.

Sources and further reading#

• Somatoliberin (GHRH), UniProt P01286: canonical sequence and annotation for the parent hormone whose 1-29 core the CJC-1295 constituent is based on.
• Raun et al., Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue, Eur J Endocrinol 1998 (PMID 9849822): primary characterization of the ghrelin-receptor constituent and its GHS-R selectivity.
• Gobburu et al., PK-PD modeling of ipamorelin, Pharm Res 1999 (PMID 10496658): pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic profile of the Ipamorelin constituent on the ghrelin pathway.
• Teichman et al., Prolonged GH/IGF-I secretion by CJC-1295, J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2006 (PMID 16352683): foundational pharmacology of the CJC-1295 scaffold, establishing the DAC-driven persistence the No-DAC constituent deliberately lacks.
• Wilton et al., Pharmacokinetics of GHRH(1-29)-NH2, Acta Paediatr Suppl 1993 (PMID 8329825): characterization of the rapid clearance of the unmodified GHRH(1-29) scaffold retained by the short-acting No-DAC constituent.