DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is an organic solvent for fat-soluble molecules that water cannot dissolve, and it passes through skin carrying whatever is dissolved in it.
What published studies and recent community write-ups report about amounts, timing and course length. 2 clinical, 3 preclinical and 4 community-reported rows, each linked to its source. These are descriptions of what others report, not instructions, and nothing here is medical advice.
| Context | Dose | Frequency | Route | Course | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical2 rows | |||||
| FDA label: the one approved DMSO drug, instilled into the bladderAdults with interstitial cystitis; safety and effectiveness in children not established | 50 mL of a 50% w/w aqueous solution (0.54 g DMSO per mL, about 27 g per instillation) | Every two weeks until maximum symptomatic relief, then at longer intervals | Intravesical instillation by catheter, retained for 15 minutes and voided | Open-ended; biochemical screening about every six monthsNot applicable | DailyMed, National Library of Medicine2021 |
| The label is the only regulator-reviewed human dosing of DMSO and it is emphatic about route: the vial reads For Irrigation Only, Not for Injection, and the prescribing information says not for intramuscular or intravenous injection. A garlic-like taste appears within minutes and an odor on breath and skin can last 72 hours because the metabolite dimethyl sulfide leaves through the lungs and skin. Lens changes were seen in monkeys, dogs and rabbits on high chronic doses, so slit-lamp eye examinations are recommended before and during treatment; DMSO can release histamine and has caused hypersensitivity reactions; it potentiates other drugs given at the same time; and it was teratogenic in rodents at intraperitoneal doses of 2.5 to 12 g/kg. The oral LD50 in the dog is above 10 g/kg. | |||||
| Systematic review of adverse reactions in humans, 109 studiesPatients given DMSO transdermally, intravenously (mostly as the cryoprotectant in stem cell infusions), intravesically or intra-articularly, across 109 studies of five or more people | Doses varied by study, from topical applications to 50% bladder instillations and the roughly 10% DMSO carried by cryopreserved cell infusions; incidence of reactions rose with the dose given | Single or repeated courses as studied | Transdermal in 43 studies, intravenous in 14, intra-articular in 1, plus bladder instillation | As studiedNot applicable | F1000Research (PubMed Central)2019 |
| Gastrointestinal and skin reactions were the commonest findings and most were transient. Nausea ran at 2 to 14% in most studies and was less common with skin application than with intravenous use. Halitosis was reported in 29 studies and in five of them every patient had it; in five studies patients stopped treatment because of it. Flushing, treated as an allergic reaction, appeared only with intravenous DMSO: four studies recorded 204 episodes across 1,439 stem cell infusions. Cardiovascular and respiratory reactions were reported in 33 studies and several found them dose-related. The authors' conclusion is that DMSO is safe in small doses and that dose is what decides the reactions. | |||||
| Preclinical3 rows | |||||
| Preclinical: the vehicle in the SLU-PP-332 mouse studiesMale C57BL/6J mice | SLU-PP-332 at 50 mg/kg (30 mg/kg for the pharmacokinetic measurement), dissolved in a DMSO and surfactant vehicle | Twice daily | Intraperitoneal injection | 7 to 15 daysNot applicable | ACS Chemical Biology (PubMed Central)2023 |
| This is the reason DMSO appears in a peptide library at all. The compound that produced the exercise-mimetic findings was never given in water: it was dissolved in DMSO and diluted with a surfactant into an injectable vehicle, and control animals received the vehicle alone. Every human figure in circulation for SLU-PP-332 is extrapolated from these injected, vehicle-matched mouse experiments. | |||||
| Preclinical guideline: how much DMSO an animal protocol may containLaboratory rodents, including neonates | No more than 10% v/v DMSO in the injected or gavaged solution, and no more than 2 mL/kg (2.2 g/kg) of DMSO per 24 hours; for a 25 g mouse that is 0.05 mL or 55 mg | The limits are per 24 hours and cover repeated dosing | Oral gavage, intravenous or intraperitoneal; pharmaceutical grade DMSO required for any injection | Per protocolNot applicable | Washington State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee2016 |
| The institutional standard operating procedure separates the two things that cause harm: the percentage of DMSO in the solution and the total amount given, independent of dilution. It directs that DMSO be diluted to at most 10% with sterile isotonic saline and passed through a 0.2 micron sterile filter before parenteral use, that food-grade DMSO is acceptable only by mouth, and that an untreated control group be run alongside the vehicle group because the vehicle itself has effects. Its suggested injectable mixture is 10% DMSO, 10% Tween 80 and 80% sterile saline. Another campus guideline allows up to 20% with the same 2 mL/kg daily ceiling, so 10% is the conservative figure. | |||||
| Preclinical: acute intravenous toxicity of solvents in miceThree inbred mouse strains (CD2F1, B6D2F1, C57BL/6N) | DMSO tested at 1.0 to 5.66 mL/kg intravenously; the lowest dose was safe and the highest killed up to half the animals in a group | Single intravenous dose | Intravenous | Single administrationNot applicable | Arzneimittelforschung (PubMed)1994 |
| In vitro blood-compatibility tests flagged DMSO and benzyl alcohol for hemolytic potential, and the authors suggest avoiding both as intravenous vehicles where PEG 400 or ethanol will do, diluting any solvent in water to improve blood compatibility, and staying at or below the lowest dose they tested. This is the animal basis for the dilution rules in the guidelines above. | |||||
| Community-reported4 rows | |||||
| Supplier datasheet: SLU-PP-332 solubility and an injectable vehicle | SLU-PP-332 dissolves at 58 mg/mL in DMSO, 2 mg/mL in ethanol and is insoluble in water; a clear 2.9 mg/mL working solution is 5% DMSO, 40% PEG300, 5% Tween 80 and 50% water, mixed in that order | Prepared fresh and used immediately | Stock in DMSO, then diluted for injection or gavage | Not applicableNot applicable | Community resource2026 |
| The datasheet's working example is 50 microliters of a 58 mg/mL DMSO stock added to 400 microliters of PEG300 and clarified, then 50 microliters of Tween 80, then 500 microliters of water, with the mixture used at once. A second vehicle is 5% DMSO in corn oil at 1.45 mg/mL, and a 5 mg/mL suspension in sodium carboxymethylcellulose is offered for oral gavage. These are research formulations for animals, which is the only context in which the compound has been dosed. | |||||
| Supplier datasheet: DMSO stock concentration and storage | SLU-PP-332 up to 100 mg/mL in DMSO with ultrasonic help; injectable vehicles of 10% DMSO with 40% PEG300, 5% Tween-80 and 45% saline, or 10% DMSO in corn oil, each at 2.5 mg/mL or more | Stock solutions stored in solvent for up to 6 months at -80 degrees or 1 month at -20 degrees | Stock in DMSO, each co-solvent added one by one | Not applicableNot applicable | Community resource2026 |
| The second major supplier agrees on the shape of the procedure: a concentrated DMSO stock, then co-solvents added in order so the compound stays in solution as water arrives. Its storage figures are for the DMSO stock, not for an aqueous working solution, which both suppliers say to use immediately. The powder itself is stored at -20 degrees for up to 3 years. | |||||
| Community reconstitution protocol: a two-step DMSO stock and dilution | 5 mg vial dissolved in 0.5 mL DMSO for a 10 mg/mL stock; final DMSO in any dosing solution kept below about 10% | Stock made once; aqueous working solution prepared fresh per dosing event | Stock diluted into 10% DMSO, 1% Tween-80, 30% PEG-400 and 59% saline for injection, or into 0.5% methylcellulose with 0.1% Tween-80, or corn oil, for oral use | DMSO stock stored at -20 degrees in aliquots for months; aqueous solutions hours to about 24 hoursNot applicable | Community resource2026 |
| The guide opens by saying SLU-PP-332 is not a peptide and that bacteriostatic water, sterile water or saline alone produce an undissolved suspension that cannot be measured. Its technique notes are the practical ones: use fresh, preferably anhydrous DMSO because the solvent pulls water from the air; vortex 30 to 60 seconds until clear; 10 to 15 seconds in a sonicating bath if anything remains; do not heat above 40 degrees; aliquot the stock to avoid freeze-thaw cycles; and never tip a concentrated DMSO stock straight into plain water, which crashes the compound out as the solvent equilibrates. It also warns that an aqueous working solution can look dissolved and then re-precipitate on standing. | |||||
| Community reconstitution guide: DMSO stock diluted into bacteriostatic water | 0.3 mL DMSO on a 5 mg vial, then transferred drop by drop into 2.7 mL bacteriostatic water: 3 mL at about 1.67 mg/mL with 10% v/v DMSO | Once, at reconstitution | DMSO released down the vial wall and swirled, never shaken; the DMSO solution is added to the water, not the water to the DMSO, two drops at a time with swirling between | Not stated for the mixed solutionNot applicable | Community resource2026 |
| This guide is the one most often copied in community posts. It asks for DMSO of 99% to 99.9% purity and a sterile empty vial for the dilution step, and it is candid that the result may be clear, slightly hazy or milky depending on how slowly the DMSO phase is diluted. Its final instruction matters: the 10% DMSO stock is not a finished solution, and it says to dilute further so that DMSO does not exceed 1% v/v before use unless a validated protocol allows otherwise, which brings it in line with the animal guidelines above. | |||||
Pharmaceutical grade DMSO (USP, at least 99.9% pure) is required for anything injected; the odor of lower grades comes from sulfide impurities that cross skin along with the solvent. Pure DMSO freezes at about 18.5 degrees Celsius, so a bottle from a cool room may need to warm in the hand before it pours.
A small measured volume of DMSO, 0.3 to 0.5 mL on a 5 mg vial, is run down the inside wall and the vial is swirled until the solution is clear; a few seconds in a sonicating bath finishes any stubborn particles. The stock is a concentrate, 10 to 17 mg/mL, and is not what gets drawn for use.
The stock is added drop by drop to the watery vehicle with swirling between additions, never the reverse, so the compound is not shocked out of solution. Guides land at 10% DMSO in the mixed solution and then dilute further, toward 1%, before use; a cloudy or milky result means the compound has come out of solution.
Suppliers give a DMSO stock 1 month at -20 degrees or 6 months at -80, in aliquots to avoid freeze-thaw cycles. Once water is added the clock is hours: aqueous working solutions are made fresh for each use because the compound slowly re-precipitates as the co-solvents equilibrate.
Institutional guidelines cap an injected solution at 10% DMSO and the daily amount at 2 mL/kg, require pharmaceutical grade and a 0.2 micron sterile filter, and run an untreated control because the vehicle has effects of its own. None of these limits has a human equivalent for injection, because no injectable DMSO product has been approved.
Plus 4 community resources (dosing guides, forum threads and vendor write-ups), reported above but not linked.
DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is an organic solvent for fat-soluble molecules that water cannot dissolve, and it passes through skin carrying whatever is dissolved in it. It has a single approved use in the United States: a 50% solution instilled into the bladder for interstitial cystitis, whose label is marked not for intramuscular or intravenous injection. Its place in a peptide library is narrow. Lyophilized peptides dissolve in water and do not need it; the research chemical SLU-PP-332 is insoluble in water and is dissolved in a few tenths of a milliliter of DMSO before that stock is diluted into a watery vehicle, which is how the mouse studies behind the compound were run. Laboratory animal guidelines keep the final solution at or under 10% DMSO and the daily amount under about 2 mL per kilogram, pharmaceutical grade only, and a human systematic review found its adverse effects, from a garlic taste on the breath to flushing with intravenous use, rise with the dose.
These themes describe recurring questions in published research. They are not claims of effectiveness or recommendations for use.
Diluents and buffers a lyophilised vial is dissolved in.
The label is the only regulator-reviewed human dosing of DMSO and it is emphatic about route: the vial reads For Irrigation Only, Not for Injection, and the prescribing information says not for intramuscular or.
Gastrointestinal and skin reactions were the commonest findings and most were transient. Nausea ran at 2 to 14% in most studies and was less common with skin application than with intravenous use. Halitosis was.
This is the reason DMSO appears in a peptide library at all. The compound that produced the exercise-mimetic findings was never given in water: it was dissolved in DMSO and diluted with a surfactant into an injectable.
The institutional standard operating procedure separates the two things that cause harm: the percentage of DMSO in the solution and the total amount given, independent of dilution. It directs that DMSO be diluted to at.
In vitro blood-compatibility tests flagged DMSO and benzyl alcohol for hemolytic potential, and the authors suggest avoiding both as intravenous vehicles where PEG 400 or ethanol will do, diluting any solvent in water.
Study models remain visible so laboratory and animal findings are not mistaken for established human outcomes.
2 protocol rows on this page come from human trials, trial registrations, regulator labels or reviews of human data. Approval status and populations are stated per row.
3 protocol rows describe animal, cell or toxicology work. Amounts from these rows do not translate to people.
4 rows record what blogs, vendor write-ups or forums describe for DMSO. None has been verified against primary literature.
Sequence, synonyms and registry identifiers as recorded in PubChem, the National Library of Medicine's open chemistry database. Formula, mass and CAS number are summarized at the top of the page.
Dimethyl sulfoxide, Dimethyl sulphoxide, Methyl sulfoxide, Methylsulfinylmethane, Rimso-50, UNII YOW8V9698H
IAZDPXIOMUYVGZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N
methylsulfinylmethane
8 curated references, each with its journal, year and study model, plus 4 community resources reported but not linked.