Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide
Immunological Research
Available sizes: 5 mg, 10 mg
A neuropeptide with an immunological second life
VIP is a 28-residue peptide of the secretin/glucagon superfamily, isolated originally from porcine intestine and named for the vasodilation it produced. The name has outlived its usefulness: vasodilation is one of the least studied of its activities today.
It signals through two G protein-coupled receptors, VPAC1 and VPAC2, which are expressed on neurons, immune cells, smooth muscle and epithelium — a distribution that explains why it turns up in so many separate fields.
Where it appears in the literature
Neuroimmune signalling. Its principal research identity: a neurotransmitter that directly regulates T cell and macrophage behaviour.
Circadian biology. VIP-expressing neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus are required for synchronising the central clock — one of the better-established findings about it.
Inflammatory models, including arthritis and colitis, where it is studied as an endogenous regulator.
Sarcoidosis and pulmonary research, where inhaled VIP has been trialled clinically.
Smooth muscle and secretory regulation in the gut, its original context.
A short half-life
Native VIP is degraded rapidly in circulation, which has shaped its research use: much of the work uses analogues, or delivers it locally, precisely because the native peptide does not persist. That constraint is part of why receptor-selective analogues are an active area.
Read alongside
Thymosin Alpha-1 and KPV for immune regulation through other routes, and DSIP for the circadian side of neuropeptide research.
Documentation and verification
Certificates of Analysis are published for tested products and batches. A certificate is a batch-specific record: it reports what was measured, by which method, on a stated date, against a batch identifier. It is evidence about the sample analysed at the time of analysis, and it is silent on attributes it does not list and on what has happened to the material since.
The batch number is the field that connects the document to a physical vial. Where the identifier on a vial does not appear on a certificate, the certificate does not describe that vial, however thorough the analysis behind it was. Batch records can be searched directly, and the guides below explain what each field establishes and what it does not.
- Verify a batchSearch a batch number for the certificate records published against it.
- How to read a certificate of analysisWhat each field reports, and the limits of what a certificate can establish.
- Certificate, specification and safety data sheetThree documents that answer three different questions.
- Storage and handlingWhat defined storage conditions mean, and why cold slows degradation.
- Batch numbers and traceabilityHow an identifier ties material to the analysis describing it.
Supplied for laboratory research use only. Not for human or veterinary use.