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Origins & Effects of BPC-157 | Dr. Abud Bakri & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Huberman Lab Clips10:25Added Aug 31, 2026

Dr. Abud Bakri and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss the peptide BPC-157, detailing its discovery from gastric juices, its biological mechanisms for accelerating t...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. BPC-157

  2. 00:00Let's start with BPC57.
  3. 00:02What is it? What do we know about it?
  4. 00:05We'll explore safety and what is your
  5. 00:08stance on it from the perspective of a
  6. 00:10consumer and a clinician. So, first of
  7. 00:12all, what is BPC57?
  8. 00:14The best way to look at it is, you know,
  9. 00:15as humans, we've been looking for
  10. 00:17medicines in plants for thousands of
  11. 00:19years. And in the last, let's say 150
  12. 00:22years, we've been looking for medicines
  13. 00:23in cells. So, animal derived versus
  14. 00:26plant plant derived medicines is the way
  15. 00:27to think about it. You think about
  16. 00:28aspirin, you think about metformin, the
  17. 00:30statins, those are all discovered in,
  18. 00:32you know, plant tissues. Um, statins
  19. 00:34more so fungi, but you get the point.
  20. 00:37Now, we've been looking into animal
  21. 00:39tissues to find cures, medicines,
  22. 00:41treatments. So, a group in Croatia in
  23. 00:45the '9s looks out for this peptide
  24. 00:48called BPC that they they and eventually
  25. 00:50named BPC. It's a $40,000 giant peptide
  26. 00:53called BPC. BBC57 is 15 amino acids from
  27. 00:57that giant peptide. We don't naturally
  28. 00:59make BPC57. That's what you'll commonly
  29. 01:01hear online. We make BPC the big uh
  30. 01:04protein. Did this group go looking for
  31. 01:08body protection compound? For those that
  32. 01:10aren't familiar in the laboratory, you
  33. 01:12can take a tissue, grind it up. You can
  34. 01:14do what's called fractionation. You can
  35. 01:15start separating basically cells and
  36. 01:17tissues and liquids according to the
  37. 01:19size of different proteins. Like
  38. 01:20different filters will bring let just
  39. 01:22like certain filters will let sand
  40. 01:23through or pebbles through or boulders
  41. 01:24through. That's kind of what you do. And
  42. 01:26then you figure out what the sequences
  43. 01:28are and then you throw them on cells or
  44. 01:29put them into animals and you try and
  45. 01:30figure out what they do. Why were they

  46. Pavlov & Gastric Juices

  47. 01:32motivated to look for what eventually
  48. 01:35became BPC Pavlov the famous uh
  49. 01:38scientist that would do the dog the
  50. 01:39experiments on the dogs with the bell
  51. 01:41and and making the dogs salivate. The
  52. 01:43other work he did was on gastric juices
  53. 01:44of dogs. What he'd do is he'd put a hole
  54. 01:47in dogs stomachs. He would um feed them
  55. 01:49food and then get the gastric juices and
  56. 01:51sell that as a medicine.
  57. 01:52That's how he made his money.
  58. 01:53Yeah, that was part of his business.
  59. 01:54So, he got a Nobel Prize. He was also
  60. 01:56kind of like what did he have a like a
  61. 01:58um a call code? It was like like enter
  62. 02:00Pavlova for for discount at checkout.
  63. 02:03Yeah. Amazing.
  64. 02:04So, this is BBC before BBC57 exists.
  65. 02:07There's probably other peptides and
  66. 02:08compounds in there, but they they found
  67. 02:09that gastric juices had positive effects
  68. 02:12on healing on people that had, you know,
  69. 02:14gird and these kind of
  70. 02:15Wait, so people were taking BPC in the
  71. 02:17time of Pavlov?
  72. 02:18They didn't know what BBC was. They were
  73. 02:19taking gastric juices from dogs
  74. 02:20for what?
  75. 02:21GI distress, GI discomfort. Um, some
  76. 02:23people were trying for wound healing.
  77. 02:25There was a big push in this era for
  78. 02:26like finding animal tissues and putting
  79. 02:29them into humans. That science fizzled
  80. 02:30out. At the same time, there's a
  81. 02:32scientist Hanseli that's coming up with
  82. 02:35uh the stress adaptation theory. And he
  83. 02:36notices that animals are stressed out.
  84. 02:38Three things happens to them. Their
  85. 02:39adrenals get really big so they make
  86. 02:41more cortisol. Their gastric lining gets
  87. 02:43destroyed and then their thymus gland
  88. 02:45and their lymphatics shrink down. And he
  89. 02:47he has this published paper where you
  90. 02:48have clear adrenal from a stressed
  91. 02:50animal versus a non-stressed animal. A
  92. 02:52thymus from an animal that's stressed
  93. 02:53versus not. So this group is looking and
  94. 02:56thinking, hey, Pavlov had this gastric
  95. 02:59juice. Hansely said that there was
  96. 03:01damage when during stress. There must be
  97. 03:03some kind of cytorotective or
  98. 03:04organoprotective compound in the gut.
  99. 03:07The stomach is a very rich endocrine uh
  100. 03:09tissue. It makes grein all these other
  101. 03:11hormones. So they're like there must be
  102. 03:12something else in the gut juice that
  103. 03:14protects the gut lining from further
  104. 03:16damage.
  105. 03:17Were people drinking the gastric juices
  106. 03:18of dogs? Were they injecting them?
  107. 03:21Drinking was mo mostly what they did.
  108. 03:22And it was supposed to be a medical
  109. 03:24elixir presumably. It had many many
  110. 03:26things in it, many peptides.
  111. 03:28Pepsia and like upset stomach and this
  112. 03:31kind of stuff is what people were
  113. 03:32thinking.
  114. 03:32Do the reports point to the fact that it
  115. 03:33might have worked independent of what
  116. 03:35was sold on uh Dr. Pavlov's non-existent
  117. 03:38website.
  118. 03:39This was in like the early 1900s and
  119. 03:42then uh so was what 1930s
  120. 03:45I think. So yeah. Someone will correct
  121. 03:47us if we're wrong. And this other group

  122. Identifying the Active Peptide

  123. 03:49in Croatia
  124. 03:49was 91.
  125. 03:5191. Okay.
  126. 03:53Their first paper talks about this like
  127. 03:54hey there must be some kind of compound.
  128. 03:56They they identified the big 40 doton
  129. 03:59protein BPC and then they they were like
  130. 04:01what's what's causing the actual
  131. 04:02biological effects? They identified
  132. 04:03BPC57 the 15 amino acid peptide that's
  133. 04:06causing all these effects. There's
  134. 04:07actually more peptides in gastric juices
  135. 04:09that some other scientists may or may
  136. 04:11not have already identified. This field
  137. 04:13of peptides going to be very interesting
  138. 04:14because almost every organ has a
  139. 04:16signature of peptides. Like if you think
  140. 04:18back Dr. Vladimir Vulovich in 1850s
  141. 04:211880s finds carnosine and carnitine in
  142. 04:25muscle of cattle. So you can think about
  143. 04:27the first peptides that are found are
  144. 04:28carnosine and then carnitine is the
  145. 04:30amino acid that's that have positive
  146. 04:32effects on strength training and
  147. 04:34performance and different effects there.
  148. 04:36But that was the whole idea is like hey
  149. 04:38there's muscle peptides that may have
  150. 04:39muscle effects, right? Gut peptides
  151. 04:42might have gut effects.
  152. 04:43So this Croatian group um isolates this
  153. 04:4515 amino acid kind of mini segment Yep.
  154. 04:48of BPC. They and others start injecting
  155. 04:50into mice inducing injuries to nerve to
  156. 04:53tendon. Maybe describe a few of those

  157. Animal Research & Healing

  158. 04:55effects. I' I'm familiar with that
  159. 04:56literature, but I can tell that you are
  160. 04:58far more familiar with it. So, what are
  161. 04:59some of the impressive effects that they
  162. 05:02observed that led to where we are today?
  163. 05:05So, they did all kinds of horrible
  164. 05:06things to these mice. They would, you
  165. 05:08know, sever tendons and then give them
  166. 05:10BPC through oral or injectable
  167. 05:12intraparitinal uh administrations and
  168. 05:14they'd have faster healing times. They
  169. 05:16would sever ACL of the mice. they would
  170. 05:18uh do burn wounds. So when a patient has
  171. 05:20a burn wound in like the ICU, they end
  172. 05:22up having crazy gastric ulcers, but if
  173. 05:24they were able to put BBC on topically
  174. 05:26for the mouse, they would have no
  175. 05:27gastric ulcers. They name it as this
  176. 05:29anti-stress compound is how they they
  177. 05:31they look at it. Now, when they do that
  178. 05:33Achilles paper on the mice, that's what
  179. 05:35explodes the bodybuilder interest and
  180. 05:37leads us to today where we are like, oh,
  181. 05:39MSK injuries must be BPC, tendons and
  182. 05:41and and and muscle injuries. But the

  183. Musculoskeletal vs Gastric Treatment

  184. 05:44original idea of BPC was to use it as a
  185. 05:46gastric treatment, not to use it as a
  186. 05:48muscular skeletal.
  187. 05:49What is so striking to me about BPC, and
  188. 05:52by the way, that's not an endorsement
  189. 05:53for BPC. Just what's so striking to me
  190. 05:55because my lab worked for a long time on
  191. 05:57optic nerve repair and [clears throat]
  192. 05:58neural regeneration. Nerves don't like
  193. 05:59to regenerate in the central nervous
  194. 06:01system, peripheral nervous system, they
  195. 06:02do it, they do it slowly, but they do
  196. 06:03it.
  197. 06:04Yep.
  198. 06:04Not in the central nervous system. Ask
  199. 06:06anyone [clears throat] who's had a
  200. 06:07stroke or an optic nerve injury. It's a
  201. 06:09tough road at best. There are data that
  202. 06:13I've seen with my own eyes that show
  203. 06:15that, you know, you can accelerate
  204. 06:18healing of tendon, of ligament, of nerve
  205. 06:22pathways
  206. 06:23in animals. Yes.
  207. 06:23In animals. Yes. Thank you. And that it
  208. 06:26just generally promotes quote unquote
  209. 06:29repair.
  210. 06:30Yep.
  211. 06:30That's kind of weird.
  212. 06:31It is weird.
  213. 06:32Right. Because I could spend the next 10
  214. 06:34hours or more telling you about all the
  215. 06:36ways that people have tried to get
  216. 06:37nerves to regenerate and couldn't. And
  217. 06:39as you point out, this thing doesn't
  218. 06:42really have one specific at least known
  219. 06:44receptor.
  220. 06:45So the data on the gut make a lot of
  221. 06:47sense. This is after all a gut peptide.
  222. 06:49It makes sense that that gut peptide
  223. 06:51could get lots of places in the body,

  224. Mechanisms of Biological Repair

  225. 06:52right?
  226. 06:53But what is it doing mechanistically if
  227. 06:55we know to support regeneration or
  228. 06:58replenishment of all these different
  229. 06:59tissue types? Because a neuron is a very
  230. 07:01different cell type than, you know, a
  231. 07:04fibiberblast or one of the bits of
  232. 07:06collagen that make up different
  233. 07:07connective tissues. It's modulating a
  234. 07:10lot of these growth and healing
  235. 07:12pathways. Like in the models of damaging
  236. 07:15the endothelial layer or the epithelial
  237. 07:18layer of different tissues, you'll get
  238. 07:20more veg f signaling. So that's the the
  239. 07:22vascular endothelial growth factor. So
  240. 07:24get more blood vessels andogenesis being
  241. 07:25formed which creates a lot of the
  242. 07:27controversy around BBC safety. You'll
  243. 07:29get cell migration especially when
  244. 07:31coupled with TB500 and TB4. you'll get,
  245. 07:33you know, more access of the healing
  246. 07:35factors to the area through androgenic
  247. 07:37pathways. On top of that, you'll get an
  248. 07:39anti-stress effect. So, the other big
  249. 07:41thing that they did was they'd give
  250. 07:42cortosteroids with BPC57 to these mice.
  251. 07:45And usually when you have a wound and
  252. 07:47you you give corticosteroids, the
  253. 07:48corticosteroids will slow or even stop
  254. 07:51the wound healing from happening. When
  255. 07:52BPC was administered, the the the
  256. 07:55healing was either the same or even
  257. 07:56better.
  258. 07:56Is BPC considered anti-inflammatory?
  259. 07:59Because based on what you just said, it
  260. 08:01almost seems like it helps maintain some
  261. 08:03of the pro-inflammatory response. Some
  262. 08:05people might be thinking, why would you
  263. 08:07want inflammation? What Dr. Baker just
  264. 08:08said is if you block inflammation with
  265. 08:11corticosteroids,
  266. 08:12you aren't going to call in the signals
  267. 08:14to repair tissues. So lowering
  268. 08:16inflammation is a dicey thing that maybe
  269. 08:18we set aside for later in the
  270. 08:20conversation if we have time.
  271. 08:21Is it thought that BPC is lowering
  272. 08:23inflammation or is just somehow hitting
  273. 08:25the gas pedal on all these regenerative
  274. 08:27restorative biological processes?
  275. 08:30It's more putting the gas pedal on these
  276. 08:31processes to bring in the immune system,
  277. 08:34the healing factors. For example, in one
  278. 08:36tendon model, they noticed that it
  279. 08:38increased the amount of growth hormone
  280. 08:39receptors on the tendon. So
  281. 08:41theoretically, this would allow more
  282. 08:43growth hormone to dock in and cause the
  283. 08:44outgrowth of the tendon and and the and
  284. 08:46the regrowth of it. So there's that
  285. 08:48theory there. downstream it'll modulate
  286. 08:50uh nitric oxide synthesis. So that's a
  287. 08:52big thing when it comes to wound healing
  288. 08:53because you need to to dilate the blood
  289. 08:55vessels, you need to call in different
  290. 08:56cells. So it's really changing the way
  291. 08:58cells behave at that level. But that's
  292. 09:00only for like the tendons side of it.
  293. 09:02They also did weird things on the
  294. 09:04neurological side. Like they would make
  295. 09:06these mice drunk, okay? And they would

  296. Neurological Effects & Dopamine

  297. 09:09then give them BBC and they'd get less
  298. 09:11drunk and when they go through mazes.
  299. 09:12Oh boy.
  300. 09:13Okay.
  301. 09:14We did not just recommend you take BBC
  302. 09:16with alcohol. I want to be very clear.
  303. 09:18Um, but people are, you know, will do
  304. 09:20their own interpretation. So, I'm being
  305. 09:22semi-facicious, but very interesting.
  306. 09:24And then also, they would give them get
  307. 09:25the mice drunk and then have them
  308. 09:26withdraw from alcohol and like
  309. 09:28withdrawal is deadly. If we have a
  310. 09:29patient in the hospital that withdraws,
  311. 09:30they could die during that withdrawal if
  312. 09:32they're not giving bzodias beams. They
  313. 09:33got BPC and they didn't have the
  314. 09:35withdrawal symptoms. I'm like, what's
  315. 09:37going on here? This is a very
  316. 09:38interesting compound. I think it gets it
  317. 09:40gets all the hype for the msk stuff, but
  318. 09:41I think the neurological
  319. 09:43neuroscychiatric, let's say, and then
  320. 09:44gastric effects are way more interesting
  321. 09:46when it comes to that because it's
  322. 09:47modulating the gut brain access in an
  323. 09:49interesting way. We'll have people come
  324. 09:50to us and they're like, "My aderall is
  325. 09:52not working since I've been taking oral
  326. 09:53BPC."
  327. 09:54Are they happy with that effect?
  328. 09:55No, they're not happy. They're very mad
  329. 09:56because it seems like it's blunting
  330. 09:58their aderall.
  331. 09:59So, it's doing something from dopanergic
  332. 10:01signaling both on both sides, both
  333. 10:02withdrawal uh when it comes to like the
  334. 10:04gaponergic side, but also the the peak
  335. 10:07of signaling. So if you like peruse
  336. 10:09Reddit, which you should never do, um
  337. 10:11you'll find all these anhidonia
  338. 10:13discussions about BPC. People have feel
  339. 10:15like depressed and low energy. [music]