Neuropeptide Research Compounds

Both compounds in this class come out of the same Soviet-era research programme at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow, and both follow the same design idea: take a short fragment of a larger endogenous peptide, add a stabilising tail, and you have a molecule that survives long enough to study. Semax is derived from ACTH(4–10) with a Pro-Gly-Pro extension; Selank derives from tuftsin, an immunologically active tetrapeptide, with the same extension. The tripeptide tail is not decoration — it is what confers resistance to the peptidases that would otherwise clear the parent fragment in minutes. Published characterisation concerns melanocortin-receptor and BDNF-expression work for one, and GABAergic and monoaminergic signalling for the other, in rodent models. Because Selank derives from an immune fragment, part of its literature concerns immune signalling rather than the nervous system.

2 compounds · For Research Use Only. Not for Human Consumption.