If you’ve researched peptide therapy, you may have come across a product called bacteriostatic water used in the peptide reconstitution process. Correctly reconstituting peptides is essential for their effectiveness in your research, but using regular water straight from the filter or tap is a massive misstep that can cause a lot of headaches. That’s where bacteriostatic water comes into the mix.
Aside from sterile water, it’s one of the safest options for researchers to use to reconstitute their peptides and provide safe subcutaneous injections for their patients. But what exactly is bacteriostatic water? This article will focus solely on bacteriostatic water for peptides and give you more in-depth information on how researchers can use it for safe research.
What Is Bacteriostatic Water?
Bacteriostatic sterile water is a type of water that can inhibit the growth of bacteria. It’s composed of bacteria-free sterile and filtered water mixed with 0.9% benzyl alcohol to ensure that contaminating bacteria cannot grow in or on its surface. Because of this benzyl alcohol additive, bacteriostatic water becomes ‘static’ or relatively unchanging in its bacterial content.
Bacteriostatic water is often used to dilute or dissolve medications used in safe patient injections because of its unique properties. Compared to sterile water (filtered and purified water that contains no additives), bacteriostatic water differs because it can be used for multiple injections within a 28-day period. Unfortunately, single-dose sterile water can only be used for one injection.
What Is Peptide Reconstitution?
If you’re interested in the possibilities of peptide therapy, you should understand the role bacteriostatic sterile water plays in the process. When you buy peptides from a trusted source, they’ll likely be supplied in a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder form for enhanced stability during travel. Before these lyophilized peptides can be utilized in a laboratory, they must be dissolved in a liquid solution in a process called peptide reconstitution. Reconstitution is what makes the peptides soluble for safe and straightforward subcutaneous injections.
How to Prepare Peptides & Bacteriostatic Water for Injection
Individuals working in a research lab who are looking to provide a safe, effective subcutaneous injection must first understand how to prepare peptides and bacteriostatic water for injections. Before anything, researchers must ensure all utensils are sterile and have never been used before. Using dirty lab supplies can cause infection or spread blood-borne diseases. To prepare peptides and bacteriostatic water for injection, follow these instructions:
- Wipe down the peptide and bacteriostatic water vials with an alcohol wipe.
- Carefully install the needle tip on a syringe.
- Insert your needle tip into the sealed bottle of bacteriostatic water.
- Slowly extract the bacteriostatic water until the solution reaches your desired level.
- Gently remove the needle from the vial.
- Penetrate the peptide vial as gently as you can.
- Dispel the bacteriostatic water into the vial, ensuring you take special care to drip it down the side of the vial. DO NOT spray the bacteriostatic water directly onto the peptide. This can damage the peptide solution and leave it useless.
- Remove your freshly contaminated needle from the vial and replace it with a new sterilized one once the peptide reconstitution is complete.
- Slowly extract the peptide/bacteriostatic water mixture until the solution reaches your desired level.
How to Inject Peptides
Peptide injections are performed subcutaneously, meaning they’re given under the skin but don’t pierce the muscle, similar to an intravenous injection. There are two ways researchers know how to inject peptides: at a 90-degree or 45-degree angle. To figure out which angle works best for your research, pinch the skin at the injection site between your fingers – if you can grab at least two inches, 90-degrees is a viable option. If you can only get about an inch of skin, the 45-degree angle method is recommended.
How to Store Bacteriostatic Water
If you want to stock up on bacteriostatic water for peptides, you’ll need to know how to store your vials for continued effectiveness. When you buy bacteriostatic water, it will come with either a rubber stopper or flip-top lids – the storage rules for each are essentially the same.
Keep your bacteriostatic water in the container it arrives in – if opened, the benzyl alcohol will lose its potency in a month, and the water can become contaminated with bacteria. Store your bacteriostatic water vials in a dark place with a residual, resting room temperature no colder than 60 degrees Fahrenheit and no warmer than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping the water in these conditions will keep the benzyl alcohol from diluting faster than usual, extending the shelf life for months.
NOTE: Do not stack anything on top of bacteriostatic water vials. Stacking may weaken the lids or vials, causing unexpected cracks and leaks.
Don’t Know Where to Buy Bacteriostatic Water? Look No Further Than Paradigm Peptides
When you need to buy bacteriostatic water for peptide therapy research, Paradigm Peptides is your No. 1 source for quality. With a pH rating of 5.7, bacteriostatic water from Paradigm Peptides is ideal as a safe and effective solvent for compounds of all types. Buy bacteriostatic water from Paradigm Peptides today, and ensure your research stays as safe and effective as possible.
If you have any questions about bacteriostatic water or our policies, feel free to call us at 1-800-706-3449 or send a message to [email protected]. An experienced member of our team will be happy to help you get the information you need.
*DISCLAIMER: This product is not for human consumption under any capacity.
