Instead of HCl, I would recommend the use of citric acid for diluting recombinant IGF-1 in PBS. Citric acid is an organic acid containing carboxylic functional groups. Sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid are inorganic acids. Organic carboxylic acids are usually weaker acids than inorganic acids and citric acid is the weakest acid. Citric acid has a pH level between 3–6 since it is a weak acid.
The pH of 1mM solution of citric acid will be about 3.2. However, concentrated citric acid solution (say 20–30 percent) will probably have a pH of around 1.5.