GHK-Cu

Background & literature

Origin

GHK is a naturally occurring tripeptide — glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine — identified in human plasma by Loren Pickart in 1973. Pickart was studying why plasma from young donors behaved differently from plasma from older donors in liver-cell cultures, and isolated GHK as the active factor. The copper complex GHK-Cu followed once it became clear that the tripeptide binds Cu(II) with high affinity at physiological pH, and that the copper is integral to its behaviour rather than incidental. It is one of the few compounds in this catalog with a genuinely long and independently replicated literature.

What has been characterised

Characterised as a copper(II)-binding tripeptide. The copper coordination is the mechanistic centre: GHK-Cu acts as a copper carrier, and much of the described activity in fibroblast and dermal cell-culture models concerns copper-dependent enzyme systems and extracellular-matrix gene expression. Recent work has examined the complex in a rodent silicosis model targeting peroxiredoxin 6, and studied GHK-hyaluronan conjugates for antioxidant and osteogenic/angiogenic properties in vitro. Preclinical and in-vitro throughout. Not FDA-approved as a drug; the tripeptide appears in cosmetic formulations under separate regulatory rules.

Sources

1. 1.Redox Biol, 2024. PMID 38879894 — peroxiredoxin 6 targeting in a rodent pulmonary model (title not reproduced here)
2. 2.“Copper Complexes with New Glycyl-l-histidyl-l-lysine-Hyaluronan Conjugates Show Antioxidant Properties and Osteogenic and Angiogenic Synergistic Effects.” Bioconjug Chem, 2025. PMID 40123442

These notes are provided for scientific context only. They describe published laboratory and preclinical research and are not a claim of any effect in humans. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.