Glossary
U-100 insulin syringe
Also called Insulin syringe, U100 syringe, 100-unit syringe, Unit syringe
The small insulin syringe most people use for peptides. Its scale is marked in units, where 100 units equals 1 mL, so 1 unit is 0.01 mL of liquid.
In more detail
U-100 syringes come in three common barrel sizes: 1 mL (holds 100 units), 0.5 mL (50 units) and 0.3 mL (30 units). The scale is the same on all three; only the capacity and the spacing of the lines change. On most 1 mL barrels the smallest line is 2 units and numbers appear every 10. On 0.5 mL barrels each line is 1 unit. On 0.3 mL barrels numbers appear every 5 and lines are 1 unit, with some models marked in half units.
The needle is usually fixed to the barrel, which also keeps the dead space low.
Why it matters
A syringe "unit" is a volume mark, not an amount of peptide. Twenty units is 0.20 mL no matter what is dissolved in it. How much peptide that holds depends entirely on how you mixed the vial. Pick the smallest barrel that fits your dose: the lines are further apart and easier to read. Full walkthrough: How to read an insulin syringe.
Related terms
- Units vs mg vs mcgMilligrams (mg) and micrograms (mcg) measure how much peptide you take. Syringe units measure how much liquid you draw. You need the vial's concentration to convert one into the other.
- Needle gaugeA number for needle thickness. Higher gauge means a thinner needle: a 31G needle is finer than a 29G.
- Dead spaceThe liquid left in the needle and hub after the plunger is fully pushed. It is not delivered, and it varies by syringe design.
- DrawPulling liquid from a vial into a syringe. To draw a dose is to measure the number of units you need on the syringe.
- ReconstitutionAdding a sterile liquid, usually bacteriostatic water, to a vial of freeze-dried peptide powder so it becomes an injectable solution with a known strength.
Sources
Each source is labeled by where the information comes from. How we label sources
- Reference workSyringe: standard U-100 insulin syringes(opens in a new tab)
Wikipedia · checked
- Competitor guideSyringe measurement guide(opens in a new tab)
peptidedosages.com · checked
- Competitor guideInsulin syringes for peptides (U-100 units)(opens in a new tab)
peptiq.io · checked
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