SS-31 On Arrival: What to Check and Do First

When an SS-31 order arrives, check that each vial’s seal and cap are intact and that the contents look like a dry white cake or powder, then put the sealed vials in the fridge for near-term use or the freezer for longer holding, boxed and dark. Lyophilised SS-31 is a dry, chemically robust material, so it does not need an ice pack in transit.

Why SS-31 travels without ice

A lyophilised vial contains the peptide as a freeze-dried cake with almost no water. The slow route that matters for SS-31 in solution, oxidation of its dimethyltyrosine ring, needs dissolved oxygen and a mobile molecule to proceed, and the reactions that light, trace metals and warmth drive in a liquid (Li et al., Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 1995) have very little to work with in a dry, sealed cake.

The sequence adds a second layer of protection. SS-31, D-Arg-Dmt-Lys-Phe-NH2, has no methionine or cysteine, the residues that oxidise most readily, no asparagine or glutamine to deamidate and no aspartic acid to isomerise. Its developer describes it as very stable in solution, with its D-arginine and amidated end greatly enhancing its resistance to peptidase enzymes (Szeto, British Journal of Pharmacology, 2014). If it holds up well dissolved, it holds up better dry.

Every Vistara Labs order ships from within Canada by Canada Post Xpresspost, so the vials stay in the domestic network without a customs hold. A few days at room temperature in transit does not harm sealed SS-31 powder. An ice pack would add condensation risk inside the parcel without protecting anything.

What to check, vial by vial

The seal and cap

Each vial should have its crimped aluminium seal intact and the plastic flip-off cap in place over the rubber stopper. The cap protects the stopper surface from dust and handling. A cap that has popped off in transit does not by itself mean the vial is open; the crimp and stopper are the actual closure. If the crimp is loose or the stopper is visibly pushed in or pierced, contact us before using the vial. An intact closure also keeps out air, which matters for a peptide whose weak point is oxidation.

The glass

Look for cracks or chips, especially around the neck. Intact glass and an intact crimp mean the vial is sealed.

The cake or powder

Lyophilised SS-31 is white to off-white. A 10 mg fill is a small amount of material, so expect a compact cake or pellet at the bottom of the vial, not a full plug. It is normal for:

• the cake to have shrunk away from the glass or cracked into pieces;
• the cake to have broken up into loose powder that moves when the vial is tilted;
• powder to be scattered up the walls or on the underside of the stopper after travel.

None of these affect the peptide. Freeze-dried cakes are fragile and shift with handling. Tap the vial gently on the bench to settle the powder before reconstituting.

What would warrant a question is a cake that looks wet, syrupy or collapsed into a glassy film, or that has a yellow or brown tint. Those suggest moisture got in. SS-31 is colourless, and its one reactive site is an aromatic ring that can oxidise, so any tint in the powder is worth asking about.

What to do first

1. Leave the vials sealed. Do not open or reconstitute a vial until it is needed. The dry cake is the most stable form SS-31 will ever be in.
2. Decide fridge or freezer. Vials for use in the coming weeks go in the fridge at 2 to 8 °C. Vials to be held for months go in the freezer at minus 20 °C, where the supplier’s frozen-powder figure applies. The full windows are on how long SS-31 lasts.
3. Keep them boxed and dark. Store vials in their box in the main body of the fridge or freezer, not in the door. With two aromatic rings, SS-31 is one of the peptides in this series where darkness matters most.
4. Store the bacteriostatic water separately. Unopened bacteriostatic water keeps at room temperature; once its stopper has been pierced it is kept cool and used within its own window.
5. When you are ready to mix, let the vial warm to room temperature before piercing it so condensation does not form on the powder. The method is on the SS-31 handling page and the volumes on the SS-31 reconstitution page.

If the parcel sat somewhere warm

A parcel left in a mailbox or a warm vehicle for an afternoon is not a problem for sealed lyophilised SS-31, for the reasons above. Move the vials to cold, dark storage when you get them and proceed as normal. A mixed vial is different, because it is already in solution; it should be refrigerated promptly and kept out of the light.

More on SS-31

How the peptide holds up over time is on the SS-31 stability page. Our certificates are on the lab reports page.