PEGylated Mechano Growth Factor (PEG-MGF)
PEGylated Mechano Growth Factor (MGF)
Russianstar " Experiences with MGF and PEG MGF a complete guide.
This article will discuss the use of Mechano growth factor and clear up a few myths.
WHAT IS MGF?
Mechano Growth Factor (MGF) also known as IGF-1Ec is a growth factor/repair factor that is derived from exercised or damaged muscle tissue, Its called MGF as IGF-1Ec is a bit of a mouthful and harder to identify amongst the other igf variants.
What makes MGF special is its unique role in muscle growth.
MGF has the ability to cause wasted tissue to grow and improve itself by activating muscle stem cells and increasing the up regulation of protein synthesis, this unique ability can rapidly improve recovery and speed up muscle growth.
MGF can initiate muscle satellite (stem) cell activation in addition to its IGF-Ireceptor domain which then in turn increases protein synthesis turnover, and therefore can if used correctly improve muscle mass over time.
The liver produces 2 kinds of MGF splice variants of igf..
1) IGF-1Ec This is the first phase release igf splice variant and it appears to stimulate satellite cells into activation, This is the closest variant to synthetic MGF.
2) liver type IGF-IEa this is the secondary release of igf from the liver, and its far less anabolic.
MGF differs from the second variant IGF-IEa as it has a different peptide sequence which is responsible for replenishing the satellite cells in skeletal muscle, in other words it is more anabolic and longer acting than the systematic release of the second MGF liver variant.
So just think of MGF as a highly anabolic variant of igf. After you have trained, the IGF-I gene is spliced towards MGF then that causes hypertrophy and repair of local muscle damage by activating the muscle stem cells as well as other important anabolic processes, including the above mentioned protein synthesis, and increased nitrogen retention.
In rats some studies have shown muscle mass increases of 20 percent from a single mgf injection.. somehow I think many of these studies are not accurate, however the potential is undeniable.
HOW TO USE MGF
Now when you train what happens to your muscles, they break down, the cells are damaged, muscle tissue needs to be repaired and your body produces 2 forms of MGF splice variant, The first initial release of the above mentioned number 1 variant from the liver helps muscle cell recovery, if there is no MGF then muscle cells die, that's the large and small of it.
As muscle is a post-mitotic tissue and as such cell replacement is not a means of tissue repair , If the cells are not repaired they die and your muscles get smaller and weaker.
The muscle The pool of these stem cells is apparently replenished by the action of MGF, which is produced as a pulse following damage.
Now with synthetic injections of MGF you can increase the pulse and so speed up recovery, and increase the muscle tissue cells by stimulating satellite cells into full maturity. 200mcg bi laterally is the very best choice of dosing in muscles trained.
The only problem with MGF and this is the reason I don't like it, is that it has such a short half life, just a few minutes, between 5-7, and it needs to be used immediately post workout as it wont work if muscle tissue hasn't been damaged, that's why for me personally i think the best option is PEG MGF.
Nevertheless MGF has a huge role to play, and is administered to those with muscle wasting diseases and for those who are elderly and have lost muscle mass for good reason, it is EXTREMELY anabolic.
HOW TO USE PEG MGF
This is a very important section.
When using MGF that's pegylated that's the addition of Polyethylene glycol, its a non toxic additive that increased the half life of MGF from minutes to hours.
This means its uses and versatility make it a tremendous addition to a bodybuilders arsenal.
I have found it most effective as its effects are systematic, that means they have a whole body effect wherever muscle has been damaged or is diseased.
The next aspect we need to look at is how to make the most use of a long acting version of MGF.
When your muscle is damaged your body releases a pulse of an MGF splice variant as i outlined above, followed by a less anabolic longer acting version from the liver... So it seems a waste to inject MGF at this time as you will just blunt your body's own release, your not enhancing it.
So using PEG MGF on non workout days is actually the very best route, the muscle has been damaged, so there are plenty of receptors for MGF, the effects are systematic so all muscles will be helped to recover through increased nitrogen retention, protein turnover, and satellite cell activation. Recovery is just going to sky rocket.
Doing this means your increasing the length of your body's own mechanism for muscle repair and growth, your opening up the anabolic window.
NOW PLEASE TAKE CAREFUL NOTE.
Running PEG MGF in synergy with IGF is perfect but there are things you need to know.
If you dose them at the same time, as IGF has such strong receptor affinity, The effectiveness of MGF will just be wasted.
The best option and the very best choice I feel is this....
IGF DES on workout days Pre workout, or IGF1-LR3 this wont blunt your body's own MGF release from the liver, and whereas IGF1-LR3 has a more systematic effect and only a very small localized anabolic effect, DES on the other hand is very anabolic in a localized way, so bring up lagging muscle parts with DES, and then the following day Dose MGF at 200-400mcg subq to increase recovery and the mechanism for growth. Perfect synergy.
Over a 4 week run i noticed about 4lb increase with the PEG MGF and DES partnership. And roughly the same weight in fat loss, very impressive, some though have noted far greater increases in muscle mass.
If your on an AAS cycle there is no need for the addition of DES as IGF levels will already be elevated, then the addition of PEG MGF can take your recovery and gains to a new level.
STORAGE ETC
Dosing 3 times a week is best, and 1ml of BA water for every 2mg is optimal. Storage in the fridge for up to 6 months. Avoid exposure to heat or sunlight.
According to RS nice protocol of IGF DES and PEG MGF will be
IGF DES during workout 80mcg and above ( about 4X week)
PEG MGF next day of workout of day 200-400 mcg at 2 pm (about 3X week)
but for beginners
50mcg IGF DES and 200mcg PEG MGF is sufficient
My bro got nice results with these peptides
Gained about 8 pounds pure muscle mass in just 5 weeks
__________________
Current cycle
week 1-16 test e 500mg/week
week 1-14 deca 400mg/week
Quick summary: MGF is a splice variant of the IGF produced by a frame shift if the IGF gene. MGF increase the muscle stem cell count, so that more may fuse and become part of adult muscle cells. This is a process required for adult muscle cells to continue growing.
Why PEGylate MGF?
MGF exhibits local effects in skeletal muscle and without modification is not systemic (can’t travel through the body). The problem with synthetic MGF is that it is introduced IM and is water based so it goes into the blood stream. MGF is not stable in the blood stream for more than a matter of minutes. Biologically produced MGF is made locally and does not enter the bloodstream and is short acting so stability is not an issue. By PEGylating the MGF we can make synthetic MGF injected IM almost as efficient as local produced MGF. Clinically proven Advanced Pegylation, the technology of polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugation, holds significant promise in maintaining effective plasma concentrations of systemically administered drugs. It does this by surrounding part of the peptide with a unique structure made of polyethylene glycol, which can be attached to a protein molecule. The result of a correct PEGylation is similar to the protective mechanism of a turtle shell. The polyethylene glycol groups protect the peptide but don’t surround it completely. The active sites of the peptide are still free to do their biological function. In this case the shell is a negative charged shield against positively charged compounds that would affect the protein. This also provides a nice steric chamber for the peptide to reside in. So it’s a happy turtle
Neurological research has shown that utilizing PEGylated MGF resulted in a longer more stable acting version of the MGF peptide in serum/blood.
Bottom line
PEGylation can improve performance and dosing convenience of peptides, proteins, antibodies, oligonucleotides and many small molecules by optimizing pharmacokinetics, increasing bioavailability, and decreasing immunogenicity and dosing frequency. PEGylation also can increase therapeutic efficacy by enabling increased drug concentration, improved biodistribution, and longer dwell time at the site of action. As a result, therapeutic drug concentrations can be achieved with less frequent dosing—a significant benefit to patients who are taking injected drugs.
The PEG itself does not react in the body and is very safe. PEG has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a base or vehicle for use in foods and cosmetics and in injectable, topical, rectal and nasal pharmaceutical formulations. PEG has demonstrated little toxicity, is eliminated intact by the kidneys or in the feces and lacks immunogenicity. The risk associated with current PEGylated drugs are due to the way the drug itself acts not the PEG. MGF, as it is being currently sold, is getting a bad rep from people due to the fact they feel that they are not seeing gains from it. Many people believe that the use of MGF in their cycles or protocols just flat out won't work, however, this is far from the truth.
More MGF information
Complete Overview of MGF or IGF-IEc
From its sequence, MGF is derived from the IGF-I gene by alternative splicing and has different 3' exons to the liver or systemic type (IGF-IEa). It has a 49 base pair insert in the human, and a 52 base pair insert in rodents, within the E domain of exon 5. This insert results in a reading frame shift, with a different carboxy (C) terminal sequence to that of systemic IGF-IEa. MGF and the other IGF isoforms have the same 5' exons that encode the IGF-I ligand-binding domain. Processing of pro-peptide yields a mature peptide that is involved in upregulating protein synthesis. However, there is evidence that the carboxy-terminal of the MGF peptide also acts as a separate growth factor. This stimulates division of mononucleated myoblasts or satellite (stem) cells, thereby increasing the number available for local repair
During the early stage of skeletal muscle development, myoblasts (muscle stem cells) fuse to form syncytial myotubes, which become innervated and develop into muscle fibers. Thereafter, mitotic proliferation of nuclei within the muscle fibers ceases. However, during postnatal (after development) growth, additional nuclei are provided by satellite cells (myoblast) fusing with myotubules. Muscle damage-recovery seems to have a similar cellular mechanism, in that satellite cells become activated and fuse with the damaged muscle fibers (reviewed by Goldring et al. 2002). This is also pertinent to certain diseases such as muscular dystrophy in which muscle tissue is not maintained and which have been associated with a deficiency in active satellite (stem) cells (Megeney et al. 1996; Seale & Rudnicki, 2000) and in myogenic factors (Heslop et al. 2000). Skeletal muscle mass and regenerative capacity have also been shown to decline with age (Sadeh, 1988; Carlson et al. 2001). The reduced capacity to regenerate in older muscle seems to be due to the decreased ability to activate satellite cell proliferation (Chakravarthy et al. 2000). The markedly lower expression of MGF in older rat muscles (Owino et al. 2001) and human muscle (Hameed et al. 2003) in response to mechanical overload has been associated with the failure to activate satellite cells, leading to age-related muscle loss (Owino et al. 2001). Your muscle cells can not grow once they have reached a certain size unless they obtain more nuclei from the myoblast. MGF increases the myblast available to donate their nuclei to the adult muscle cell.
“MGF appears to have a dual action in that, like the other IGF-I isoforms, it upregulates protein synthesis as well as activating satellite cells. However, the latter role of MGF is probably more important as most of the mature IGF-I will be derived from IGF-IEa during the second phase of repair. Nevertheless, it has been shown that MGF is a potent inducer of muscle hypertrophy in experiments in which the cDNA of MGF was inserted into a plasmid vector and introduced by intramuscular injection. This resulted in a 20 % increase in the weight of the injected muscle within 2 weeks, and the analyses showed that this was due to an increase in the size of the muscle fibers (Goldspink, 2001). Similar experiments by other groups have also been carried out using a viral construct containing the liver type of IGF-I, which resulted in a 25 % increase in muscle mass, but this took over 4 months to develop (Musaro et al. 2001). Hence, the dual role MGF plays in inducing satellite cell activation as well as protein synthesis suggests it is much more potent than the liver type or IGF-IEa for inducing rapid hypertrophy.”
These results are based on actual transplantation of the DNA coding for the peptides. This is a permanent effect and much more potent than IM injections of the peptide itself. You will not see a 20% increase in muscle mass through IM injections as claimed above.
PEGylated MGF dosing Protocols
The PEGylated version is going to be much longer lasting making a 1-2 dose per week procedure possible. I still think its best used with IGF or AAS to maximize the benefits so here are some sample protocols
Once a week PEG MGF/ IGF
Sunday 100-300 mcg MGF you can choose to site inject if you wish. I think splitting large doses may benefit.
Monday –Fri IGF 50mcg e/d
Twice a week PEG MGF / IGF
Sunday and Wed MGF 50-150 mcg
MT, Th, F IGF 50 mcg
These protocols are just to start as this is brand new feel free to tweak them if you like. I will update them after we have done some testing.
MGF is a splice variant of the IGF gene which increases stem cell count in the muscle and allows for muscle fibers to fuse and mature. This is a process required for growth of adult muscle. Natural MGF is made locally and does not travel into the bloodstream. Synthetic MGF is water based and when administered intramuscularly, travels into the bloodstream. MGF is only stable in the blood stream for only a few minutes.
PEGylation is the act of attaching a Polyethylene glycol (PEG) structure to another larger molecule (in this case, MGF). The PEG acts as a protective coating and the theory here is that this will allow the MGF to be carried through the blood stream without being broken down.
Background
I have to be honest here, and say that in my estimation, PEGylating MGF is basically something a research chemical company did to have a bit of a market with no competition for awhile. That’s not to say that it’s not a decent product, but honestly, in this particular case, I feel that marketing was in the drivers seat with the development of this version of MGF, and science was in the backseat asking “are we there yet?”.
Action
MGF is produced biologically when muscle fibers are broken down through resistance (weight training). It is a potent factor in muscle growth. MGF stimulates muscle growth, creates new muscle fibers, promotes nitrogen retention and increases protein synthesis. This compound is commonly used for overall growth of muscle and to promote growth in body parts that are not up to par with the rest of the user's physique. Results usually depend on dosage. Fat loss and strength increases are not typically seen with MGF's use (as they are in IGF-1 use).
The PEG itself is safe for use as it is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and does not react in the body. The PEG is not broken down in the body and excreted (intact) through urine or feces. Any risk associated PEGylated drugs is due to drug itself not the PEG per se.
Technical Data
In a study on older rodents, muscle fiber reduction in their older muscles was found to be attributed to decreased activity of satellite cells (1). After a certain size was reached, growth ceased. In the presence of MGF, satellite cells became activated and hypertrophy in mature muscles continued.
In experiments where MGF was administered intramuscularly, there was a 20% increase in the weight of the injected muscle fibers within 2 weeks (2). In further studies, it took 4 months for IGF to cause a 25% increase in muscle mass (3). MGF was found to be more potent than IGF-1Ea in rapid muscle growth (4).
[Note: This data is on “regular” MGF, not the Pegylated version….we can assume similar results, however]
User Notes
Although the science looks impressive on paper, in the real world, we see something totally different. While PEGMGF should have theoretically given the athletes who use it better results than regular MGF, it struggles to provide even the same results at a higher dosage (judging from the athletes I have personally spoken to).
So does that mean it’s useless?
No, not at all. Not entirely…
I think that the PEGylation is actually a potentially useful addition to MGF if properly used. If we assume that the PEGylation will extend the life of the MGF in the body somewhat, then we can use it in a very specific manner to help our gains. It is nowhere near as good as regular MGF though, and I wouldn’t use it unless I really had the disposable cash on hand.
I feel that, based on conversations with several athletes and bodybuilders, that PEGMGF is best used in conjunction with (not instead of) regular MGF (and IGF). I feel that if one were to use my Peptides protocol (to read about that in detail, check out the article “Peptides: The Next Frontier in Hypertrophy”), I think that PEGMGF is probably best used on off-days from training, to keep MGF levels elevated and get additional hypertrophy from the longer releasing PEGMGF.
So, along with regular MGF and Lr3IGF-1, if I felt it to be necessary, I might throw in some PEGMGF on off-days from training, to get additional growth (and again, if it were me, I’d probably recommend 400-500mcg of PEGMGF on off days, with a regular dose of 200mcg of regular MGF + 100mgs of Lr3IGF-1 on training days, as per my article).
For most athletes I’ve spoken to and worked with, this is what we’ve found to be optimal. Again, though…I’m not very fond of this product, and it’s best used (if at all), as a possible adjunct to an IGF + MGF cycle, and never in place of regular MGF. Unfortunately, it just didn’t pan out as people hoped it would, but it’s not a complete waste of money.
