What Is PDRN Actually Made From, and Is It Vegan?

Nearly all the PDRN in Korean skincare comes from salmon. It is DNA taken from salmon milt, the sperm of salmon trout or chum salmon, so it is not vegan. Vegan PDRN made from plants or microbes does exist, but it is new and has far less research behind it. This guide covers where PDRN comes from, what is really in the bottle and how to spot it on a label. It also covers what a vegan buyer or someone with a fish allergy needs to know.

What PDRN is made from

PDRN is short for polydeoxyribonucleotide, and once you strip the long name away it just means short pieces of DNA. The DNA in nearly every PDRN serum comes from fish, and two species do most of the work: salmon trout and chum salmon. The extract is taken from the milt, which is the sperm of the male fish. That is why you will see PDRN called salmon DNA, or, more bluntly, salmon sperm.

Why fish, and why that part of the fish? Milt is packed with DNA and holds little else, so it gives a clean and dense source. Salmon DNA is also close enough to ours that skin gets on with it well. Those two facts are why labs settled on salmon decades ago. It is also why the injected form was a clinic staple in Korea long before it reached a serum.

The fish are not farmed for their DNA, and makers describe milt as a by-product of salmon already caught or farmed for food. Our PDRN guide covers what it does once it is in a serum. This post stays on where it comes from and who it suits.

What is actually in the extract

Raw milt is not what goes into a serum. The DNA is pulled out, cleaned of protein and other bits of the cell, and cut into short chains. What is left is a pure DNA extract, and good makers get it to about 90 to 95% pure. The small rest is mostly trace protein, which matters for one group of people, and we come to them below.

That purity is also why a PDRN serum has none of the things you might picture. There are no fish oils, no scales and no smell. What reaches the bottle is a clear DNA extract that brands then blend with water and other actives. In the Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum that means 10,000 ppm of salmon-derived PDRN, plus five peptides and hydrolysed collagen.

How to spot PDRN on a label

PDRN is a nickname, not the name on the label. Look for sodium DNA, which is what Medicube and Abib use, or hydrolysed DNA, which is how Rejuran lists it. A few brands write the full name instead. If none of those appear on the label, ask the brand before you trust the word on the front of the box.

Strength is written in ppm, which stands for parts per million, so 10,000 ppm is 1% of the formula. That sounds small, but brands range from a few hundred ppm up to 20,000 or more. So the number tells you a lot, and a product that gives no number at all is fair to question. The Medicube serum states its 10,000 ppm on the pack. The rest of the Pink Peptide line uses the same sodium DNA without naming a figure.

Is PDRN vegan?

Salmon PDRN is not vegan, and it is not vegetarian either, because it is made from fish. Every product in the Medicube PDRN line, the Abib PDRN patch and the Rejuran ampoule uses salmon DNA, so none of them suit a vegan routine. We would rather say that plainly here than have you find it on the label at home.

Vegan PDRN does exist. Brands make it from plant DNA, often ginseng, rice, green tea or rose, or from microbes such as Lactobacillus. You will see it sold as vegan PDRN, phyto PDRN or plant PDRN. It is the same idea, short chains of DNA, but from another source.

Here is the catch. Almost all the research on PDRN was done with salmon PDRN, and most of that used injections rather than serums. For plant and microbe PDRN, the studies so far are lab studies on cells and skin models. Dr Rachel Ho, a doctor in Singapore, reviewed the evidence in July 2025 and added to it in 2026. She found no published human trials of vegan PDRN on skin, and none that compared it with salmon PDRN. So vegan PDRN may work just as well. Nobody has shown it yet.

We do not stock a vegan PDRN product yet. Are you vegan and after the moisture and plump look people buy PDRN for? Then our plant-led picks are the SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Ampoule and the Anua Heartleaf 77% Soothing Toner. They are built on plant extracts rather than sold as vegan, so read the full list if that matters to you.

What to know if you have a fish allergy

A fish allergy is set off by fish proteins, not by fish DNA. PDRN is DNA, and the extract is cleaned of most protein, so the risk is small. It is not zero, because the extract is 90 to 95% pure rather than 100%. And nobody has tested PDRN skincare on people with a fish allergy. ASCIA, the Australian allergy body, notes that some people with a seafood allergy react to touching seafood, not only to eating it.

So if you have a fish or seafood allergy, talk to your doctor before you use a PDRN product. Patch test on the inner arm first, too. If that is not you, skip that step. PDRN is one of the gentlest actives in Korean skincare, and skin does not need time to adjust to it.

PDRN at a glance

	Salmon PDRN	Vegan PDRN
Made from	DNA from the milt of salmon trout or chum salmon	DNA from plants (ginseng, rice, green tea, rose) or microbes
On the label as	Sodium DNA, hydrolysed DNA, polydeoxyribonucleotide	Varies by source, often the plant name plus DNA
Vegan	No	Yes
Research	Decades of it, mostly on injections	Lab studies only, no human trials yet
Check with a doctor first	Fish or seafood allergy	No specific caution known
Stocked at DLUX	Medicube, Abib, Rejuran	Not yet

Where PDRN turns up in Korean skincare

Most PDRN skincare sold in Australia is salmon PDRN in a serum, and Medicube is the brand that started the trend. Its Pink Peptide line puts the same sodium DNA into a serum, a capsule cream, an eye cream and a weekly gel mask. So you can build a whole routine on one active, and our Medicube PDRN routine guide shows the order. Abib puts PDRN into a jelly eye patch with a low dose of retinal, and Rejuran, the clinic name, sells a cosmetic ampoule with hydrolysed DNA. All of it is genuine stock, shipped from our Sydney warehouse.

How to use it in a routine

PDRN is one of the gentle ones, so it fits almost anywhere. Use a PDRN serum after cleansing and toning, morning or night, and follow with your moisturiser. If you use retinol or retinal, keep that for the night and put PDRN on at either time. Our PDRN vs retinol guide explains how the two sit together, and the retinal vs retinol guide helps you pick between those two.

Two things people get wrong. First, more is not better, and a few drops is enough for the whole face. Second, a serum is not a clinic treatment. The strong research is on injections, and a serum sits on the skin. Buy it for moisture and a plumper look, not to copy a clinic visit.

New to PDRN? Start with the serum, because it is the easiest to slot into any routine, then add the capsule cream if your skin runs dry. The gel mask is a once or twice a week extra rather than a daily step. Browse the whole line on our Medicube collection page.

Frequently asked questions

Where does PDRN come from?
Nearly all PDRN in skincare comes from salmon. It is DNA taken from the milt, the sperm of salmon trout or chum salmon, then cleaned of protein and cut into short chains. Makers describe the milt as a by-product of fish already caught or farmed for food.

Is PDRN vegan?
Salmon PDRN is not vegan, because it is made from fish. Every PDRN product we stock uses salmon DNA. Vegan PDRN made from plants or microbes exists, but we do not stock one yet.

What is vegan PDRN made from?
Vegan PDRN is DNA taken from plants such as ginseng, rice, green tea or rose, or from microbes. It is also sold as phyto PDRN or plant PDRN, and it is the same idea as salmon PDRN, short chains of DNA, from another source.

Does vegan PDRN work as well as salmon PDRN?
Nobody knows yet, because the research on PDRN was done with salmon PDRN, mostly injected. Studies on plant and microbe PDRN are lab studies on cells and skin models. As of a July 2025 review there were no published human trials of vegan PDRN on skin, and none comparing the two.

Can I use PDRN if I have a fish allergy?
Talk to your doctor first. A fish allergy is set off by fish proteins, and PDRN is DNA that has been cleaned of most protein. But the extract is 90 to 95% pure rather than 100%. ASCIA notes some people with a seafood allergy react to touching seafood, so a caution on skin makes sense.

What does PDRN look like on a label?
Look for sodium DNA, which is what Medicube and Abib use, or hydrolysed DNA, which is how Rejuran lists it. Some brands write polydeoxyribonucleotide in full. Strength is given in ppm, and 10,000 ppm is 1% of the formula.

Not sure whether PDRN is right for you? Email us at contact@dlux-essentials.com and we will help you choose.