HCG Dosage Chart: 250-500 IU Protocol Guide

HCG is dosed in international units (IU), not milligrams — community and clinical protocols for testicular support during testosterone therapy cluster around 250-500 IU two to three times per week, with fertility-restoration and post-cycle protocols using higher IU amounts. A standard 5,000 IU vial reconstituted with bacteriostatic water covers weeks of dosing.

Research-context information only. HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) is the active ingredient in FDA-approved products for hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and infertility; research-peptide and compounded forms are not FDA-approved and are sold for research purposes only. Protocols, doses, and reactions reported below come from clinical trials and community sources. This article reports what has been documented, not what should be done. Consult a licensed physician for personal medical decisions.

HCG is a glycoprotein hormone that mimics luteinizing hormone (LH) to stimulate testicular testosterone. This guide covers the IU-based protocols documented for testicular maintenance, fertility, and post-cycle use, plus the reconstitution math for drawing an accurate IU dose.

Quick Reference: Documented Protocols

Reported standard: roughly 250-500 IU two to three times weekly for testicular maintenance alongside testosterone therapy. For the full HCG profile and mechanism, see the HCG peptide page.

How the IU Doses Are Used

Documented HCG protocols split by goal, and the IU amounts differ substantially between them:

• Testicular maintenance on testosterone therapy — the lowest range. Community protocols and the 2013 Hsieh trial reference roughly 250-500 IU, two to three times weekly, run continuously alongside testosterone to keep the testes active.
• Post-cycle / axis restart — higher and time-limited. Community PCT references describe several hundred to about 1,500 IU two to three times weekly for a few weeks, often paired with a SERM, to help restart suppressed testosterone production.
• Fertility induction (hypogonadotropic hypogonadism) — the clinical setting. Gonadotropin-therapy studies (Boeri 2021) describe HCG dosing over 12-24 months, frequently combined with FSH, to induce spermatogenesis.

Community sources consistently frame low-frequency, low-IU dosing as the way to avoid the estradiol spikes that large, infrequent HCG doses can drive through aromatization.

Routes of Administration

• Subcutaneous — the most commonly described community route for testicular support; a small insulin-syringe injection into abdominal fat.
• Intramuscular — used in the 2013 Hsieh TRT study; a deeper injection, typically into the deltoid or glute.

At the concentrations below the injection volume is a fraction of a milliliter either way.

Reconstitution Quick Reference

HCG ships as a lyophilized powder and is reconstituted with bacteriostatic water. The reconstitution concentration chosen sets how many insulin-syringe units a given IU dose draws to.

The math is deterministic: units = (dose IU ÷ concentration IU/mL) × 100. More BAC water spreads a dose across more units (easier micro-draws); less water keeps total volume smaller. Community reconstitution protocols describe swirling gently (not shaking) to mix, then refrigerating at 2-8°C.

The figures above report how clinical and community sources describe reconstituting and measuring HCG — a record of documented practice, not instructions to follow. Anyone considering HCG should work with a licensed prescriber.

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Where These Numbers Come From

The testicular-maintenance range is anchored to published clinical work. In a 2013 study, Hsieh and colleagues gave hypogonadal men on testosterone replacement 500 IU of HCG intramuscularly every other day; none of the 26 men became azoospermic, and semen parameters were preserved. An earlier controlled study (Coviello 2005) showed that low-dose HCG maintained intratesticular testosterone in a dose-dependent way when the body's own gonadotropins were suppressed — the mechanistic basis for using it during testosterone therapy.

For fertility induction, gonadotropin-therapy reviews (Boeri 2021) describe HCG-based regimens — often combined with FSH — inducing spermatogenesis in roughly 80% of hypogonadotropic men over 12-24 months. A 2021 review (Fink 2021) frames HCG as a viable option for secondary hypogonadism because it raises testosterone while supporting, rather than suppressing, sperm production. Post-cycle IU schedules, by contrast, come from community protocols rather than controlled trials and are labeled as such throughout.

Stacking Context

HCG is frequently documented alongside other axis-focused compounds rather than in isolation:

Side Effects & Safety

Reported effects, drawn from clinical and community sources:

• Estradiol elevation and related effects (water retention, moodiness) when doses are large or infrequent — the reason community sources favor low, frequent IU dosing
• Injection-site reactions
• Acne or oily skin from increased androgen output
• Gynecomastia risk if estradiol is not managed
• HCG is a prescription hormone; the research/compounded form is unapproved

For the mechanism behind these effects, see the HCG benefits article.

IU Dosing Notes (Not a mg Conversion)

Unlike milligram-dosed peptides, HCG has no meaningful mg-to-units conversion — potency is standardized by international units of biological activity. Every reputable protocol is written in IU, and the only conversion that matters is IU-to-insulin-syringe-units, which depends entirely on the reconstitution concentration used (see the table above). Anyone quoting an HCG dose "in mg" is misapplying a mass unit to an activity-standardized hormone. These conversions reflect the dilutions documented in community reconstitution protocols; they report how the math is described, not a recommended dosing schedule.