Re: How much pepsin do I need to use in order to break down proteins

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the question. The basics are these: first, you don't need very much pepsin at all, because it is quite an active enzyme and like all enzymes, each molecule participates in many reactions. Second, the amount required depends on how much protein you have to break down and how quickly you want it to happen.

I agree, the term "0.5% solution" is a bit confusing. But all it means is that you have 0.5 grams of pepsin in 100 ml of solution. Sometimes you will see "w/v" written after it, meaning "weight per volume". Of course you can scale this down too, e.g. 0.005 grams (5 milligrams) in 1 ml of solution is also 0.5%.

Hope this helps you,
Neil Saunders