[3-Point Summary from Yakkal💊]

PDRN is not destroyed in the stomach, but rather precisely processed into a form absorbable in the small intestine (nucleoside).
The small intestinal mucosa has specialized transporters for nucleosides (CNT/ENT) that actively transport breakdown products into the bloodstream. Bioavailabilityis 80-90%.
Low-molecular-weight technology and enteric coating are not marketingâthey are pharmaceutical designs to enhance absorption efficiency. However, you need to understand the exact mechanisms to choose products wisely.

Think of it like sending a package.

Inside the box are precision components. For these components to reach their destination, the packaging must be unwrapped, go through a sorting center, and be loaded onto a dedicated delivery vehicle. Just because the packaging is unwrapped doesn't mean the components disappearâthey're just being prepared for delivery.

From the moment you swallow a PDRN supplement to when it reaches your cells, exactly the same process happens inside your body.

""If you eat DNA, doesn't it all dissolve in the stomach?" This is the most common question asked at pharmacies. This time, I'll answer that question by following the actual pathways of digestive physiology. Here's a package delivery tracker for PDRN in your body, guided by pharmacist Huga.

First Stop: The StomachâWhere Packaging Gets Unwrapped

The first place swallowed PDRN encounters is the stomach. Stomach acid has a pH of 1.5-2.0, which is more than 10 times stronger than lemon juice in acidity. It's a powerful environment that can even dissolve metals.

But what happens here is not destruction.

PDRN originally has a structure where protein wraps around the DNA strand. Imagine tangled yarn with paper layered on top. Stomach acid removes this paper coating (protein), unravels the twisted yarn (double helix structure), and straightens it out (linear fragments). In package delivery terms, this is the step of opening the outer packaging box.

There's one important fact here. The representative digestive enzyme of the stomach, pepsin,is scissors that only cuts protein. It cuts protein like meat or eggs, but has no ability to cut the DNA yarn itself. In other words, PDRN that passes through the stomach has only its packaging removedâthe yarn itself isn't broken.

However, prolonged exposure to this strong acidic environment can cause problems. Depurination,which simply means that the key components attached to the DNA strand (purine basesâadenine and guanine) drop off due to acid. DNA fragments missing these components cannot be used as raw material for cell regeneration later and, are converted into uric acid, a waste product. The technology that prevents this problem is enteric coating,which I'll explain in detail later.

Second Stop: Upper Small IntestineâWhere Components Are Broken Down to Individual Units at the Sorting Center

When PDRN fragments that passed through the stomach arrive at the duodenum (the first section of the small intestine immediately following the stomach), serious breakdown begins.

What appears here is DNase I an enzyme. Secreted by the pancreas, you can think of this enzyme as DNA-specific scissors. If pepsin from the stomach was scissors that cut only protein,, DNase I is specialized scissors that cut only DNA strands.

These scissors cut the connecting links that form the backbone of DNA (called phosphodiester bondsâthink of it as the thread stringing DNA beads) to create, oligonucleotides,short fragments. It's like breaking a long necklace into several pieces.

Then, other enzymes on the surface of the small intestinal lining further refine these pieces. This is the stage of separating a necklace piece into individual beads. The final form created this way is nucleoside and mononucleotide. Simply put, these are the individual beads separated from the DNA necklace.

This breakdown process is not PDRN disappearing. It's being precisely processed into the most perfect absorbable form to pass through the small intestine's specialized absorption gateway. In package delivery terms, it's sorting large cargo into individual packages for shipment.

Final Destination: Loaded onto Dedicated Delivery Vehicles

"Since it's broken down, isn't it useless??" This is the critical error that skepticism makes.

Nucleoside (DNA beads), the final product of breakdown, is not waste. The surface of small intestinal epithelial cells is densely covered with specialized transporters that specifically carry these beads. It's not a regular delivery serviceâit's a dedicated delivery vehicle waiting for these packages.

Transporter 1: CNTâVehicles Loading Cargo

CNT is a protein called a concentrative nucleoside transporter. It's located on the inner surface of small intestinal cells (the side where food passes through).

The special feature of this transporter is that it performs active transport. Active transport means that just as it's natural for water to flow downward, it's natural for substances to move from areas of high concentration to low concentration.

But CNT goes against this natural flow, borrowing the power of sodium ions to forcibly pull nucleosides into the cell. Think of it like an escalator pushing packages uphill against the natural downward slope.

Transporter 2: ENTâExit to Bloodstream

ENT is an equilibrative nucleoside transporter. It's located on the opposite side of where CNT isâthe side that touches blood vessels.

It serves as the exit that releases the beads (nucleosides) that CNT pulled into the cell into the systemic bloodstreamâthe body's blood highway.

To summarize:. CNT is the process of loading packages from the sorting center onto delivery vehicles, and ENT is the toll gate where those vehicles enter the highway (bloodstream). Because these two transporters exist, PDRN breakdown products don't just drift awayâthey can depart toward their exact destination.

How is this different from DNA in regular food?

"So if you eat fish or meat, you're also getting DNA in, right? Do you really need to take PDRN separately??"

That's correct. DNA (the raw material for nucleic acids) is included in regular foods. But there is a difference.

DNA in regular foods is tightly tangled with histone proteins (brush-like proteins that wrap DNA), fats, and cellular debris. In package terms, it's cargo that arrives at the sorting center covered in bubble wrap, tape, and styrofoam. It takes a long time to organize, and many components get lost during sorting.

In contrast, PDRN refined as a health functional food is different. It's provided as pure DNA with protein and fat impurities completely removed (purity over 95%). It's like a package with just the components, cleanly packaged without bubble wrap. It's uniformly and rapidly broken down into beads (nucleosides) within the digestive tract, allowing it to fully utilize the transporter's absorption capacity.

And there's a crucial difference in what these absorbed beads do inside cells.

If cells were to make DNA from scratch (this is called the De novo pathway in specialized terminology), it would require enormous energy. Making one nucleotide molecule requires ATP ATP,the cell's energy currency, of 8-9 units.

However, the pathway of recycling already-processed beads (nucleosides) (the salvage pathway) completes the same component with just 1 unit of energy.

Making from scratch: 8-9 units of energy â 1 component

Recycling: 1 unit of energy â 1 component

Energy consumption is incomparably lower. Especially for aged or damaged cells with reduced energy production capacity themselves, the value of this salvage pathway becomes even greater. PDRN's role is to supply large quantities of high-purity beads to this salvage pathway.

If you're curious about what regeneration signals these beads create inside cells and how they differ from collagen, then [PDRN Supplement Principles, How Is It Different from Collagen??]Check it out further.

Low-Molecular-Weight Technology and Enteric Coating: Marketing or Science?

There are two technologies that PDRN supplements commonly tout. Low-molecular-weight technology and enteric coating. Let me fact-check whether these technologies actually have real meaning from a pharmacist's perspective.

Low-Molecular-Weight TechnologyâIt's Not Absorbed Whole

In marketing, it's often said that "molecules are small enough to be absorbed directly without breakdown". This expression is not accurate. The transporters on the small intestinal lining (CNT/ENT) only allow through single bead-sized formsâthat is, individual nucleosides or mononucleotides. No matter how small you make the molecule, it cannot pass through in necklace-fragment form.

So is low-molecular-weight technology meaningless? No.

The key is the processing speed at the sorting center. Ultra-low-molecular-weight PDRN pre-cut to 100bp or less (short chains with 100 or fewer DNA beads connected) has less obstruction when breakdown enzymes (DNase I) work, dramatically increasing the speed of separation into bead units. It's the same principle as sending multiple small packages from the start reducing sorting time compared to unwrapping one large box.

The conclusion is not "absorbing whole without breakdown" but rather, "increasing breakdown speed to maximize absorption efficiency.

Enteric CoatingâServing Two Roles Simultaneously

Enteric coating is pH 6.0 or higher,, designed to never dissolve in the stomach's strong acidity (pH 1.5-2.0) and only dissolve in the small intestine's weak acidity to neutral environment. Think of it like an automatic umbrella that opens only when it rains.

It serves two roles.

First, it physically blocks the depurination reaction explained earlierâthe phenomenon where stomach acid strips key components from DNA beads. Because the coating wraps PDRN, stomach acid cannot make contact.

Second, it doesn't just dissolve anywhere but opens precisely at the most efficient location. Nucleoside-dedicated transporters (CNT/ENT) are most densely concentrated in the duodenum and jejunum ((the upper part of the small intestine). Enteric coating is designed to safely pass through the stomach and then open exactly when it reaches this transporter-dense region.

It's not just a bulletproof vest protecting from stomach acid, but a smart lock that opens with precision targeting at the most efficient absorption point.

Does the PDRN You Take Really Reach Your Skin?

If you understand up to this point, the remaining question is one: "I understand it's absorbed in the small intestine, but does it really reach the skin?"?"

A recently published animal study clearly answers this question. In the group given PDRN orally, systemic inflammatory signaling molecules (called cytokinesâthink of them as emergency alert messages exchanged between cells), TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 were significantly reduced. Pulmonary edema (fluid accumulation in the lungs) also improved by 56.3% compared to controls,, which was actually better than the group given it directly to the nose (39.8% improvement).

This means the oral intake had more systemic effects than direct nasal application.

Summarizing pharmacokinetic data (the study of how drugs spread through the body and how long they stay) yields the following:.

Item	Value	Simply put
Bioavailability	80~90%	80-90% of the amount consumed actually reaches the bloodstream
Time to peak serum level	About 1 hour	Within 1 hour of consumption, blood concentration reaches its peak
Plasma half-life	About 3-3.5 hours	It takes about 3 hours for blood concentration to drop by half
Residual effect	Continues after disappearance from blood	Even after it disappears from the blood, cellular regeneration work continues inside cells

Nucleosides ingested orally and entering systemic circulation through transporters are evenly distributed throughout the body and preferentially move to tissues requiring regeneration. Skin is no exception.

(Image Direction: Final Stage of Package Delivery TrackingâComplete flowchart showing the entire journey of beads (nucleosides) from the small intestine, carried through bloodstream, reaching the dermis layer of skin. Numerical values marked at each stage)

Pharmacist's Guide to Choosing Oral PDRN

""It all dissolves in the stomach when you eat it" is half right and half wrong. More precisely,, it's broken down for absorption, not destroyed. And how precisely that breakdown is engineered is what makes the difference between products.

When choosing a product, check these three things:.

Enteric Coating

Verify that the design prevents base loss from stomach acid and ensures the drug reaches the transporter-dense region (upper small intestine) precisely and releases concentrated doses there. Products with coatings that dissolve at pH 6.0 or above are more favorable for absorption.

Molecular Weight Spectrum of Raw Material

High-molecular-weight raw materials in the 50-1,500kDa range (long chains with thousands of DNA beads connected) are overwhelmingly inferior in breakdown speed and absorption rate compared to raw materials pre-segmented through control technology into low-molecular-weight forms optimized for digestive enzymes (short chains with 100 or fewer beads).

Co-Intake with Calcium and Magnesium

DNase I, the key enzyme that breaks down PDRN into bead units in the small intestine, requires calcium (CaÂ²âº) and magnesium (MgÂ²âº) ions to function properly. These minerals serve as auxiliary keys that switch on the enzyme. Taking it together with multimineral or magnesium supplements may help increase the speed of breakdown and absorption initiation in the digestive tract.

Now that you understand the absorption mechanism, the next question is what raw material to choose. If you need a guide covering the differences between salmon-derived and plant-based PDRN and practical selection criteria for low-molecular-weight raw materials, [Plant-Based PDRN Supplements, Are All Options Equal??]Check it out.

Selection Criteria	Verification Point	Simply put
Enteric Coating	pH 6.0 or higher release design	Stomach acid defense + smart packaging that opens at optimal absorption site
Molecular Weight	Low-molecular-weight (100bp or less) raw material	Small packages with fast processing at sorting center
Mineral Co-Intake	Co-consume CaÂ²âº and MgÂ²âº	Auxiliary keys that switch on breakdown enzymes

Packages don't disappear when their packaging is removed. They get sorted, loaded onto dedicated vehicles, and arrive at their destination. PDRN is the same. Digestion is not destructionâit's the beginning of delivery.