MT-2

Melanotan II is a synthetic cyclic peptide modelled on α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. Cyclisation was introduced to stabilise the conformation and resist enzymatic degradation relative to the linear native hormone, and the result binds across the melanocortin receptor family rather than selecting for one subtype.

That lack of selectivity is the defining pharmacological feature and the reason the compound is interesting in receptor research: it provides a broad-spectrum reference agonist against which selective analogues can be compared. It is also the reason its effect profile in living systems is complex.

The relationship to PT-141 is direct. Bremelanotide is a metabolite of melanotan II, formed by conversion of the C-terminal amide to a carboxylic acid, and the two compounds are frequently studied and cited alongside each other.

Melanotan II is not an approved medicine in any jurisdiction, including the United Arab Emirates. It is also one of the few compounds in this catalog that has attracted repeated public safety communications from national medicines regulators, aimed at consumers buying unlicensed injectable products marketed for cosmetic tanning.

VaultLabs states this plainly rather than omitting it. Research material supplied here is for in vitro laboratory use. It is not a tanning product, it is not a medicine, and it is not supplied for human or veterinary use under any circumstances. Orders indicating an intended human use are declined.

For laboratories, the regulator warnings are also relevant context for study design and for institutional review: work involving this compound is more likely to attract scrutiny, and clear documentation of the research-use basis is worth maintaining.

Published work covers melanocortin receptor binding and functional selectivity, melanogenesis in melanocyte culture models, and comparative pharmacology against selective analogues. Because MT-II is non-selective, it appears frequently as a comparator rather than as the compound of primary interest.

There is also an analytical literature driven by the unlicensed-product problem: methods for detecting and quantifying melanotan II in seized or consumer-purchased samples. Laboratories doing forensic or public-health analytical work are a legitimate audience for a characterised reference material.

Release is by reversed-phase HPLC against a stated purity specification with a lot-linked certificate. As with other cyclic peptides, ring-opened species are the degradation products of most interest and mass confirmation complements the chromatogram usefully.

There is a second identification problem specific to this pair of compounds. MT-II and PT-141 differ only at the C-terminus, and the mass gap between them is small relative to the molecule. A laboratory holding both should treat unambiguous identification as part of goods-in handling rather than relying on the vial label alone.

Store sealed lyophilised vials at 2–8 °C, protected from light and humidity, and equilibrate to room temperature before opening. After reconstitution, prepare close to the point of use, record diluent and date, and keep freeze-thaw cycles low and logged.

The catalog presentation is a 10 mg lyophilised vial with a lot identifier resolving to a published certificate where one has been uploaded for that batch, held under controlled cold storage before dispatch.

Given the regulator warnings attached to this compound, VaultLabs applies its institutional checks here without exception. Orders that indicate an intended human or cosmetic application are declined, and the research-use declaration recorded at checkout forms part of the order record.

MC1R/MC4R binding assays

Melanogenesis cell models

Receptor selectivity profiling

2–8 °C (lyophilized, sealed)

2–8 °C, light-protected sealed storage.

Cyclic peptides require careful handling — minimize oxidation and light exposure.