Klotho (α-Klotho): doses reported in published research

Sources checked 2026-10-07 · 8 cited studies (0 human, 8 animal, 0 cell culture)

Klotho (α-Klotho) is a large single-pass membrane protein (1012 amino acids in humans, UniProt Q9UEF7) whose extracellular domain is cleaved and released into the circulation. The amounts below come from animal studies that gave recombinant α-Klotho protein (the extracellular domain) or an α-Klotho protein fragment. Most other Klotho research changes the animals' own Klotho gene (Klotho-deficient, haploinsufficient or overexpressing transgenic mice) and states no administered amount.

No human data. We found no published study that gave Klotho protein to people. ClinicalTrials.gov lists early-phase registrations of Klotho gene therapy (plasmid) and of an mRNA product meant to raise Klotho levels (NCT07216781, NCT07285629, NCT07544420); these do not give the protein itself and are not listed below.

Animal studies (8)

Animal doses are listed exactly as the studies report them. They are not converted to human amounts here; doses do not translate between species by body weight.

Animal Rats (Sprague-Dawley), renal ischemia-reperfusion (acute kidney injury) model, Hu et al. 2010

Dose as reported: 0.01 mg/kg body weight (recombinant mouse Klotho protein, soluble extracellular domain)
Route: Intraperitoneal
Frequency / duration: A single bolus 30 or 60 minutes after reperfusion

Source wording: Animals in the Klotho group received one bonus intraperitoneal injection of recombinant mouse Klotho protein (0.01 mg/kg body weight) 30 or 60 min after reperfusion soluble extracellular domain of Klotho protein at 0.01 mg/kg body weight

Hu MC, Shi M, Zhang J et al.. Klotho deficiency is an early biomarker of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and its replacement is protective. Kidney Int 2010. PubMed PMID 20861825 ↗ · full text PMC3237296 ↗

Animal Mice, ischemia-reperfusion acute kidney injury model, Hu et al. 2017

Dose as reported: 0.01 mg/kg body weight per day (recombinant mouse α-Klotho ectodomain)
Route: Intraperitoneal
Frequency / duration: Daily for 4 consecutive days, starting 24 hours after the kidney injury

Source wording: α-Klotho protein in phosphate-buffered saline (0.01 mg/kg body weight/day) was injected i.p. for 4 consecutive days starting 24 hours after AKI induction IRI-induced AKI wild-type mice were injected i.p. with αKlotho protein (0.01 mg/kg) or vehicle (phosphate-buffered saline) for 4 consecutive days starting 24 hours after surgery

Hu MC, Shi M, Gillings N et al.. Recombinant α-Klotho may be prophylactic and therapeutic for acute to chronic kidney disease progression and uremic cardiomyopathy. Kidney Int 2017. PubMed PMID 28131398 ↗ · full text PMC5592833 ↗

Animal Mice, chronic kidney disease model (nephrectomy plus ischemia-reperfusion), Hu et al. 2017

Dose as reported: 0.3 mg/kg body weight per month
Route: Intraperitoneal, by osmotic minipump
Frequency / duration: Continuous for 12 weeks, starting 4 weeks after the kidney injury; pumps replaced monthly

Source wording: In the CKD model, α-Klotho protein (0.3 mg/kg body weight/month) was administered i.p. using osmotic minipumps we started to treat mice with recombinant α-Klotho protein at 4 weeks after AKI, when CKD development has already initiated, 18 and continued α-Klotho administration for 12 weeks Minipumps were replaced monthly

Animal Aged mice with cardiotoxin-injured tibialis anterior muscle, Sahu et al. 2018

Dose as reported: 10 µg/kg body weight (recombinant α-Klotho)
Route: Intraperitoneal
Frequency / duration: Daily on days 1–3 or days 3–5 after the muscle injury

Source wording: Isotonic saline or α-Klotho (10 µg/kg body weight) was administered to aged animals via daily intraperitoenal injections from 1–3 dpi or 3–5 dpi

Sahu A, Mamiya H, Shinde SN et al.. Age-related declines in α-Klotho drive progenitor cell mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired muscle regeneration. Nat Commun 2018. PubMed PMID 30451844 ↗ · full text PMC6242898 ↗

Animal Young mice, α-klotho protein fragment (αKL-F), Leon et al. 2017

Dose as reported: 10 µg/kg (αKL-F)
Route: Intraperitoneal
Frequency / duration: Daily before water-maze training; in the Y-maze test, a single administration 4 hours before testing

Source wording: Young mice were treated with vehicle (Veh) or αKL-F (10 μg/kg, i.p.) daily prior to hidden platform training or a probe trial Mice treated with a single injection of Veh or αKL-F (10 μg/kg, i.p.) were tested in the small Y-maze 4 hr later

Leon J, Moreno AJ, Garay BI et al.. Peripheral Elevation of a Klotho Fragment Enhances Brain Function and Resilience in Young, Aging, and α-Synuclein Transgenic Mice. Cell Rep 2017. PubMed PMID 28793260 ↗ · full text PMC5816951 ↗

Animal Young male mice given rhesus Klotho protein before a Y-maze test, Castner et al. 2023

Dose as reported: 10 µg/kg (recombinant rhesus Klotho)
Route: Subcutaneous
Frequency / duration: Single administration before testing

Source wording: Paradigm for testing male mice (age 4 months) in the small Y maze following treatment with Veh or rhesus KL (10 μg kg −1 , s.c.)

Castner SA, Gupta S, Wang D et al.. Longevity factor klotho enhances cognition in aged nonhuman primates. Nat Aging 2023. PubMed PMID 37400721 ↗ · full text PMC10432271 ↗

Animal Aged rhesus macaques (nonhuman primates), memory testing, Castner et al. 2023

Dose as reported: 10 µg/kg (primary analysis); 20 and 30 µg/kg (exploratory analysis)
Route: Subcutaneous
Frequency / duration: Single administration; memory tasks over the following 2 weeks

Source wording: we treated aged rhesus macaques (mean age ~21.78 years; Supplementary Table 1 , putative human age equivalent of mean ~65 years) with a single administration of vehicle or 10 μg kg −1 (s.c.) of rhesus KL and tested their cognition In exploratory analysis of higher KL doses (20 and 30 μg kg −1 , s.c.) followed by a series of NML tasks (up to seven wells) over 2 weeks

Castner SA, Gupta S, Wang D et al.. Longevity factor klotho enhances cognition in aged nonhuman primates. Nat Aging 2023. PubMed PMID 37400721 ↗ · full text PMC10432271 ↗

Animal Aged rhesus macaques, serum Klotho levels measured after a range of amounts, Castner et al. 2023

Dose as reported: 0.4 to 30 µg/kg (0.4, 2, 10, 20 and 30 µg/kg groups)
Route: Subcutaneous
Frequency / duration: Single administration; serum collected 4 hours later

Source wording: we peripherally administered a range of KL doses in rhesus macaques (0.4–30 μg kg −1 s.c.), collected their serum 4 h later and assayed KL levels KL dosing, n = 3 monkeys in each group at 0.4 and 2 μg kg −1 ; n = 4 monkeys in each group at 20 and 30 μg kg −1 ; n = 5 monkeys at 10 μg kg −1

Castner SA, Gupta S, Wang D et al.. Longevity factor klotho enhances cognition in aged nonhuman primates. Nat Aging 2023. PubMed PMID 37400721 ↗ · full text PMC10432271 ↗

Half-life

Animal Leon et al. 2017 refer to an estimated half-life of about 7.5 hours for the α-klotho protein fragment, citing Hu et al. 2016; this source does not give the species or route behind that estimate. Source wording: within its estimated 7.5-hr half-life ( Hu et al., 2016 )
Leon J, Moreno AJ, Garay BI et al.. Peripheral Elevation of a Klotho Fragment Enhances Brain Function and Resilience in Young, Aging, and α-Synuclein Transgenic Mice. Cell Rep 2017. PubMed PMID 28793260 ↗ · full text PMC5816951 ↗

These studies used recombinant Klotho proteins made or sourced by the research groups. None used a product sold as a research vial.

Most published Klotho research is on the animals' own protein and gene (Klotho-deficient, knockout, haploinsufficient or overexpressing transgenic mice) and states no administered amount, so it is not listed here. See the organ pages for those studies.

About this page

Every figure above is copied from the cited source; the source wording is shown with each entry. Where a source does not state something, the page says so.
Only abstracts, open-access full texts, registry records and FDA labels were used, so details found only in a paywalled full text may be missing.
This page does not convert doses between species or into other measures, and gives no preparation or handling information.