PDRN serums are now sold by dozens of brands (one public ingredient database lists more than 40 face serums under the name), largely on the reputation of a clinic injection. The obvious question, how much of the injected ingredient is in the bottle?, is one the labels mostly decline to answer. So we read them. This page reports what 41 ingredient lists show about the DNA they contain, what a topical PDRN can and cannot be expected to do on the evidence, and how to read the label. It names no best serum and ranks nothing; the product lists are data, not recommendations, and we have not used or tested any of the products.
What PDRN is, in one paragraph
PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotide) is purified DNA fragments, not a peptide. The version used in the clinical trials is extracted from salmon or trout milt; its positive results come from injections into diabetic foot ulcers, skin-graft sites and surgical scars. Our PDRN page sets out that evidence route by route. What matters here is that the trials behind the name did not test serums.
What we read
On 27 September 2026 we searched INCIDecoder, a public database of transcribed ingredient lists, for "PDRN serum", and read every face serum it returned with a full list: 41 products. We left out lip, scalp, eye, mist and tint products, and one entry with only four ingredients transcribed. INCIDecoder lists are uploaded by users from packaging (the ones we read were uploaded between March 2024 and August 2026); we did not check each one against a physical pack, and formulas change. A brand's own site is the authority for its current list.
Finding 1: the DNA is usually mid-list
| Where the DNA ingredient sits | Serums (of 39) |
|---|---|
| In the first five ingredients | 5 |
| Positions 6 to 10 | 12 |
| Positions 11 up to the halfway point | 5 |
| In the second half of the list, but not last | 15 |
| The very last ingredient | 2 |
The median position is 14th, on a median list of 37 ingredients. Two of the 41 lists carried no DNA ingredient under any name, despite "PDRN" in the product name as transcribed; the ingredient may be under a trade name or missing from the transcription, and we have not named those products for that reason.
Position is not quantity. Under US and EU labelling rules, ingredients above 1% are listed in descending order and those at or below 1% may follow in any order. So an early position means more, but a mid-list position can still be well under 1%, and our guide to reading a peptide ingredient list explains how to find that 1% line.
Finding 2: four brands state an amount
Four of the 39 lists put a figure beside the DNA ingredient:
| Stated amount | As a percentage |
|---|---|
| "1%" | 1% |
| "10,000 ppm" | 1% |
| "502 ppm" | 0.05% |
| "300 ppm" | 0.03% |
That is a 33-fold range between the lowest and highest stated amounts in products sold under the same four letters. The other 35 state nothing — Anua's Capsule 100 serum, read separately, is a typical case: Sodium DNA 21st of 34 with no figure anywhere on the brand's page.
There is a second, harder clue. Phenoxyethanol, a common preservative, is capped at 1% in EU cosmetics. On 12 of the lists it appears by name, and on 4 of those the DNA ingredient comes after it. On a list in descending order, anything below a 1%-capped ingredient is at 1% or less. That is an inference from the rules, not a disclosure, and it only works where a product complies with the EU cap.
Finding 3: no label says where the DNA came from
37 of the 39 lists call the ingredient Sodium DNA; 2 call it Hydrolyzed DNA. Neither name states a source, and none of the 41 lists named salmon, trout or any other organism against it. That matters, because the name has widened: a 2026 review warns that plant-derived material sold as PDRN "should not be construed as demonstrating clinical equivalence to conventional animal-derived PDRN" (Kim et al., PMID 42506577), and at least one serum studied in 2026 takes its PDRN from a bacterium, Lactobacillus sakei (PMID 42696342). A reader who wants the fish-derived material of the clinical trials has only the brand's marketing to go on. Rejuran's Turnover Ampoule is a US example of the second naming; its label is read in our Rejuran Turnover Ampoule analysis.
Finding 4: most PDRN serums are also peptide serums
23 of the 41 list at least one peptide ingredient, and one lists 13. In those products the DNA is one active among many, alongside niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, plant extracts and peptides. Any before-and-after a brand shows for such a serum is a result for the formula, not for PDRN. This site's page on peptide serum covers what the peptide half of those labels can and cannot tell a reader.
What a topical PDRN can be expected to do
Three facts from the evidence frame every PDRN serum claim:
- Size. Trial-grade PDRN fragments run from 50,000 to 1,500,000 daltons, 100 to 3,000 times the roughly 500-dalton rule of thumb for crossing intact skin (the Messina group's 2017 review, summarised on our PDRN page). Makers answer this by cutting the DNA shorter or pairing it with microneedling; both are real choices, and neither is the material the injection trials used.
- The topical trials. The most substantial one we found compared a 0.1% PDRN eye cream with a 0.1% retinol eye cream in 31 women over 28 days, with no PDRN-free version of the same cream (Ye et al., 2026, PMID 42430369). It shows the PDRN cream did better than a retinol cream, not what the PDRN contributed.
- Regulation. A serum is a cosmetic and needs no approval. Injectable PDRN had no US clearance or approval when we last searched FDA's device databases, on 24 September 2026.
So a PDRN serum can moisturise and carry whatever else is in its formula. Whether its DNA reaches living skin cells in a meaningful amount, and does there what injected PDRN does, has not been measured in a vehicle-controlled trial that we could find.
Reading a PDRN serum label
- Find Sodium DNA (or Hydrolyzed DNA). If neither is on the list, the product's "PDRN" is not declared under its standard name.
- Note its position against the preservatives. Below phenoxyethanol, it is at 1% or less.
- Look for a stated amount. Four in 39 give one; that is information the others chose not to print. Creams state one more often, but across a 20,000-fold range — see our census of 45 PDRN cream labels.
- Count the other actives. If the list carries peptides, vitamin C or retinoids, the product's results belong to the formula.
One product is read line by line in our analysis of the Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum. For the injectable side of the category and what US regulators have approved, see skin boosters.