Cerebrolysin is dosed unlike most compounds covered on this site. It is not a lyophilized peptide reconstituted with bacteriostatic water and measured in milligrams — it is a pre-mixed injectable solution measured in milliliters, because it is a mixture of many low-molecular-weight peptides and free amino acids rather than one potent molecule. The standard concentrate is 215.2 mg/mL, and clinical protocols describe it by volume: a certain number of milliliters per day, by intravenous infusion or intramuscular injection, over a fixed course of days.
This guide reports the dose figures that appear in the published trials, organized by the indication each was studied in — acute stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), vascular dementia, and Alzheimer's disease — alongside the smaller figures that community sources self-report. The regimens differ substantially by indication, and none of them is an FDA-approved dosing instruction. This is a summary of what has been documented, not a protocol to follow.
Research-context information only. Cerebrolysin is an investigational drug not approved by the FDA. Protocols, doses, and reactions reported below come from published clinical trials and self-reported community sources. This article reports what has been documented, not what should be done. Possession or use of investigational drugs outside an authorized clinical trial may be illegal in your jurisdiction. Consult a licensed physician for personal medical decisions.
Quick Reference: Documented Regimens
The doses below are pulled from the trial literature and community reports. They are grouped by source class so trial-derived and community-derived figures stay separate.
| Context | Reported daily amount | Route | Course length | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alzheimer's disease (trial) | 30 mL/day | IV | ≥4 weeks | Gauthier meta-analysis, PMID 25832905 |
| Vascular dementia (trial) | ~20 mL/day | IV | ~4-week courses | Cui Cochrane review, PMID 31710397 |
| Traumatic brain injury (trial) | 50 mL/day, then 10 mL/day | IV | 10 days, then two 10-day cycles | CAPTAIN I, PMID 31494820 |
| Acute ischaemic stroke (trial) | up to 30-50 mL/day | IV | ~10-21 days | stroke Cochrane review, PMID 37818733 |
| Cognitive/recovery (community) | ~5-10 mL/day | IM | 10-20 day courses | self-reported, not trial-validated |
The pattern across the trials is a daily course of roughly 10-20 days, often repeated in cycles over subsequent weeks or months, rather than a single indefinite daily dose.
Routes of Administration
Documented protocols use two routes. Intravenous infusion is standard for the larger trial volumes (20-50 mL/day); higher volumes are typically diluted in physiological saline and infused slowly rather than pushed. Intramuscular injection appears at smaller volumes — clinical practice generally limits an IM injection to a few milliliters per site, which is why community IM figures cluster at 5-10 mL/day (sometimes split across sites). The trial literature is dominated by the IV route; the IM figures come mostly from community and outpatient use.
No Reconstitution Step
Unlike most research peptides, Cerebrolysin does not arrive as a freeze-dried powder and is not reconstituted with bacteriostatic water. It ships as a ready-to-use solution in ampoules or vials at 215.2 mg/mL. The only preparation described for the larger IV doses is dilution in a compatible infusion fluid (saline) for slow administration. There is no vial-plus-water mixing math to perform, and no oral or intranasal route is supported by the clinical record.
A Lyophilized Look-Alike Is Sold Separately
Some research vendors list a freeze-dried "cerebroprotein hydrolysate" — Ion Peptide sells it as "Cerebro Protein", a 60 mg lyophilized vial. It belongs to the same class: a low-molecular-weight peptide and amino-acid mixture derived from purified brain-tissue hydrolysate.
It is not the same preparation as the Cerebrolysin described above, and the difference matters for anyone comparing the two:
| Cerebrolysin | Lyophilized cerebroprotein hydrolysate | |
|---|---|---|
| Form | Pre-mixed solution, 215.2 mg/mL | Freeze-dried powder |
| Dosed by | Millilitres | Milligrams |
| Preparation | None (dilute in saline for IV) | Requires reconstitution |
| Clinical record | The trials cited on this page | None mapping to this form |
Every trial regimen on this page — the 30 mL/day Alzheimer's protocol, the ~20 mL/day vascular-dementia courses, the CAPTAIN TBI schedule — describes the solution by volume. None of those figures translate to a milligram dose of a reconstituted powder, and no published protocol establishes an equivalence between the two. Anyone treating them as interchangeable is making an assumption the literature does not support.
The regimens above are documented trial and community data points, not usage instructions — and not every indication showed benefit, as the stroke findings below make clear.
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