Musculoskeletal and Tissue Healing with BPC 157

Common injuries that occur while playing sports or engaging in daily activities involve damage to the body’s soft tissues. Soft tissues refer to one’s tendons, skeletal muscles, and ligaments. Damage to these musculoskeletal entities are typically caused by tears in these fibers during activity. The extent of recovery and recovery time of such injuries will vary depending on the specific injury.

BPC 157 is a compound that could potentially expedite the healing process for these types of injuries¹. This article will discuss the details of BPC 157, its mechanism, and how it can support musculoskeletal and tissue healing.

What is BPC 157?

BPC 157, also referred to as Bepecin, PL 14736, and PL10, is a human gastric juice-derived protein. As a partial sequence of human gastric protein BPC, BPC 157 is a synthetic amino acid fragment. It is shown to demonstrate healing properties across several types of wounds, including wounds of the skin, gastric ulcers, cornea, and muscle. Notably, BPC 157 can also provide therapeutic benefit for damaged tendons, ligaments, skeletal muscles, and bones^1,2.

How does BPC 157 help with tendon recovery?

A study evaluated the effect of BPC 157 on Achilles tendon injuries in rats. Compared to placebo control, BPC significantly bettered recovery parameters. At a biological level, mononuclear counts increased, granulocytes decreased, and fibroblast, reticulin, and collagen fiber formation increased. BPC 157-treated defects were also smaller in both depth and size. Likewise, BPC 157 helped re-establish full tendon integrity.

BPC 157 promotes healing via outgrowth and tendon fibroblast proliferation. Another study attempted to understand the mechanisms underlying BPC 157 in tendon recovery. Results indicated that BPC 157 increased the speed of tendon explant outgrowth. Additionally, BPC 157 accelerated tendon fibroblast spreading and in vitro migration and stimulated the FAX-paxillin pathway. BPC 157 also increased cell survival after H2O2 stress^1,2.

How does BPC 157 help with skeletal muscle recovery?

BPC 157’s benefits extend beyond just ligament and tendon recovery, as it also demonstrates healing properties in musculoskeletal models. One study evaluated how BPC 157 affected quadricep transections in rats. BPC 157 treatment allowed for injury healing that was sustained over the course of 72 days¹.

Another study evaluated how BPC 157 affected a gastrocnemius muscle complex injury in rats. The control group demonstrated minimal improvement and recovery. BPC 157, however, accelerated muscle recovery, accelerated functional restoration, and improved muscle recovery. These results were consistent across intraperitoneal and local administration³.

Conclusion

BPC 157 is a human gastric juice-derived protein that demonstrates robust effects on healing and recovery in rodent animal models. Several studies have evaluated the effects of BPC 157. Via several mechanisms, BPC 157 has demonstrated its ability to stimulate outgrowth and fibroblast proliferation, yielding clinical effects in healing tendons, ligaments, and muscles. However, caution should be taken when extrapolating these results to the clinic. Future studies are still needed evaluating the safety and efficacy of BPC 157 in humans.

References

Gwyer, D., Wragg, N. M., & Wilson, S. L. (2019). Gastric pentadecapeptide body protection compound BPC 157 and its role in accelerating musculoskeletal soft tissue healing. Cell and Tissue Research, 377(2), 153–159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-019-03016-8
Chang, C.-H., Tsai, W.-C., Lin, M.-S., Hsu, Y.-H., & Pang, J.-H. S. (2011). The promoting effect of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on tendon healing involves tendon outgrowth, cell survival, and cell migration. Journal of Applied Physiology, 110(3), 774–780. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00945.2010
Pevec, D., Novinscak, T., Brcic, L., Sipos, K., Jukic, I., Staresinic, M., Mise, S., Brcic, I., Kolenc, D., Klicek, R., Banic, T., Sever, M., Kocijan, A., Berkopic, L., Radic, B., Buljat, G., Anic, T., Zoricic, I., Bojanic, I., … Sikiric, P. (2010). Impact of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on muscle healing impaired by systemic corticosteroid application. Medical Science Monitor: International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 16(3), BR81-88.

Author

David J. Bauder, PA-C David Bauder, PA-C, is a certified physician assistant and the assistant medical director at Weight Loss and Vitality in Manassas and Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, DC; and Gaithersburg, MD. He enjoys helping patients optimize their physical and mental health to improve their overall well-being. He earned his physician assistant degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Afterward, he gained admission into the reputable graduate program for physician assistant studies at the University of Nebraska Health Science Center in Omaha. David has over 26 years of experience working as a physician assistant. He’s practiced in podiatry, family medicine, emergency medicine, general surgery, urgent care, and functional medicine.