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Epitalon Peptide Background And Structure — Deep Dive

By Editorial Desk · published 2025-10-09 · last reviewed 2025-10-25 · Data

The short version of bioregulator fits in a sentence. The long version — which is the one that helps — is below.

This page was last updated on 2025-10-25 and is reviewed periodically as new material appears.

Epitalon Peptide Background and Structure

Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the amino acid sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine, abbreviated Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly or AEDG. It was developed by the Russian researcher Vladimir Khavinson and colleagues during work on peptide bioregulators derived from the pineal gland. The compound is short enough to be produced by standard solid-phase peptide synthesis and is typically handled as a lyophilized white powder. Its small size distinguishes it from larger pineal peptides such as epithalamin, a complex extract from which the tetrapeptide was conceptually derived.

The four residues give epitalon a molecular formula of C14H22N4O9 and a molecular weight near 390.35 daltons. The presence of two acidic residues, glutamate and aspartate, makes the free peptide strongly acidic, while the alanine and glycine ends provide neutral, nonpolar character. This combination produces a molecule with substantial water solubility. Because there are no cysteine, methionine, or tryptophan residues, the peptide lacks the most common oxidation-sensitive side chains, which simplifies handling compared with many longer peptides.

Background and Chemical Identity

Epitalon is a synthetic linear tetrapeptide with the sequence alanine–glutamate–aspartate–glycine, abbreviated AEDG. Its molecular formula is C14H22N4O9 and the calculated mass is approximately 390.35 g/mol. The compound is made by solid-phase peptide synthesis rather than extracted from tissue, although early work described it as a short fragment of a peptide fraction obtained from bovine pineal extract. In the research literature the spelling epitalon and the variant epithalone both appear, while AEDG is the standard code used in peptide nomenclature.

Several names circulate for the same molecule, including epitalon, epithalone, epithalamin tetrapeptide, and the sequence code AEDG. A CAS registry number, 307297-39-8, is commonly cited for it, though catalogue entries should be checked against supplier documentation because mislabelled records occur. In its usual form the peptide carries free amino and carboxyl termini and is neither glycosylated nor lipidated. Researchers distinguish the defined tetrapeptide from epithalamin itself, a crude pineal preparation containing many peptides that is not chemically characterised.

Material supplied for laboratory use is normally a lyophilised white to off-white powder that dissolves readily in water and in isotonic saline. Lyophilised cakes are hygroscopic and should be equilibrated to room temperature before opening to limit condensation on the solid. Solutions are typically prepared at milligram-per-millilitre concentrations and divided into single-use aliquots, because repeated freeze–thaw cycles degrade short peptides. Aqueous solutions are far less stable than the dry powder, and identity is usually verified by mass spectrometry alongside purity estimation from reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

Epitalon at a glance

PropertyValueNotes
Amino acid sequenceAla-Glu-Asp-GlyTetrapeptide, often abbreviated AEDG
Molecular formulaC14H22N4O9Free peptide, unmodified termini
Molecular weight~390.35 DaCalculated for the free acid form
AppearanceWhite to off-white powderTypical lyophilized product form
Solubility classFreely soluble in waterTwo acidic residues dominate ionic character

Background and Proposed Mechanism

Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine, commonly abbreviated AEDG. It was designed at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology as a short, chemically defined analogue of epithalamin, a fraction obtained from bovine pineal tissue. Small peptide bioregulators of this type formed a long-running line of work there from the 1980s onward. Because the molecule is produced by solid-phase synthesis rather than extraction, its composition is exact and its purity can be measured directly.

The most frequently cited proposed action is induction of telomerase, the enzyme that adds repeat sequences to chromosome ends. Cell-culture work from the originating group reported higher telomerase reverse transcriptase expression and measurable telomere elongation in human somatic cells after exposure. How a four-residue peptide would reach nuclear gene regulation is not established, and no cell-surface receptor or uptake route has been identified. Additional reports describe changes in melatonin secretion, antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation in aged animals, but these findings remain mechanistically unconnected to the telomerase observation.

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Peptide Identity and Laboratory Handling

Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine, abbreviated AEDG. Its molecular formula is C14H22N4O9 and its calculated monoisotopic mass is approximately 390.35 daltons. The compound does not occur naturally as a free peptide; it is produced by solid-phase peptide synthesis. Because it contains two acidic residues and no basic residues, the neutral form carries a net negative charge at physiological pH. This charge profile influences how the peptide behaves in solution and during chromatographic analysis.

Laboratory-grade epitalon is typically supplied as a lyophilized powder. Purity is commonly assessed with reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, often paired with mass spectrometry to confirm molecular identity. Amino acid analysis and peptide mapping can provide additional confirmation of sequence. Certificates of analysis for research materials frequently report purity above 95 percent, although the methods behind such figures vary between suppliers. The absence of a pharmacopeial monograph means that no single standardized assay defines the compound, so reported results depend on the analytical protocol chosen.

Identity and Research Background

The peptide is a synthetic analogue of epithalamin, a preparation extracted from bovine pineal glands. Investigators sought a short, chemically defined molecule that would reproduce some of the endocrine and gerontological observations attributed to the glandular extract. Proposed mechanisms centre on induction of telomerase activity, an effect reported in cultured human somatic cells in the early 2000s, together with influences on melatonin secretion and neuroendocrine regulation. Those mechanisms remain incompletely characterised, and the reported telomerase response has not been consistently reproduced by independent groups working in comparable systems.

Published work on this compound consists mainly of in vitro experiments, animal studies, and small clinical investigations, a substantial share of which appeared in Russian-language journals. Sample sizes are generally small, control conditions differ between studies, and several endpoints rely on markers whose clinical meaning is itself debated. Reviews of the longevity field treat the peptide as an early example of telomerase-directed research rather than an established intervention. Regulatory treatment varies by country: some jurisdictions place it under prescription controls, others treat it as a laboratory material, and importation may be restricted regardless of local status.

Epitalon Background And Identification

Reported biological findings come mainly from cell culture and rodent experiments. Those studies describe changes in telomerase catalytic subunit expression, melatonin rhythm amplitude, and antioxidant enzyme activity after peptide exposure. Human data are sparse and consist of small trials with limited blinding and inconsistent endpoints. The proposed mechanisms remain hypotheses rather than established facts, and there is no consensus on whether effects observed in animals carry over to people. Independent replication outside the original research groups is limited, which is a recognised gap in the published literature.

The parent extract epithalamin was characterised as a low-molecular-weight fraction of pineal tissue rather than a single defined chemical entity. Researchers fractionated it and tested successive fragments for activity, a screening approach typical of peptide discovery work in that era. Epitalon emerged from that process as one of the shorter sequences of interest. Because the original extract was never fully resolved into individual components, claims about which constituent drives a given effect rest on inference. This distinction matters when reading older reports that attribute extract observations to the tetrapeptide itself.

Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the residue sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine, commonly abbreviated AEDG. Its monoisotopic mass is approximately 390.35 daltons, and it is usually supplied as a lyophilised trifluoroacetate or acetate salt. The compound was derived from a pineal gland extract called epithalamin, a heterogeneous preparation investigated in the former Soviet Union. Researchers associated with the Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology described the tetrapeptide as a constituent fragment of that extract. Commercial material is offered as a laboratory reagent rather than as a finished pharmaceutical product.

Further detail

=== African-American communities === The war on drugs has incarcerated high numbers of African-Americans. However, the damage has compounded beyond individuals to affect African-American communities as a whole, with some social scientists suggesting the war on drugs could not be maintained without societal racism and the manipulation of racial stereotypes. African-American children are overrepresented in juvenile hall and family court cases, a trend that began during the war on drugs. From 1985 to 1999, admissions of blacks under the age of 18 increased by 68%. Some authors posit that the overrepresentation is caused by minority juveniles committing crime more often and more serious crimes. A compounding factor is often the imprisonment of a father. Boys with imprisoned fathers are significantly less likely to develop the skills necessary for success in early education. In addition, African-American youth often turn to gangs to generate income for their families, oftentimes more effectively than at a minimum wage or entry-level job. Still, this occurs even as substance abuse, especially marijuana, has largely declined among high school students. In contrast, many black youths drop out of school, are subsequently tried for drug-related crime, and acquire AIDS at disparate levels. In addition, the high incarceration rate has led to the juvenile justice system and family courts to use race as a negative heuristic in trials, leading to a reinforcing effect.

== Fourth Ministry == On 28 July 2005, following the resignation of Deputy Premier Terry Mackenroth from the ministry and from Parliament, a ministry of 19 cabinet ministers and 6 parliamentary secretaries was sworn in. It served until the reconstitution of the Ministry on 23 September 2006 following the 2006 election. Following a Crime and Misconduct Commission report on 7 December 2005, Gordon Nuttall resigned as a minister. Tim Mulherin was appointed in his place on 12 December.

== Function == Dietary copper enters the bloodstream primarily in its oxidized Cu(II) form. Once absorbed, Cu(II) is taken up by the hCTR1, which mediates its cellular import. At the extracellular face, the flexible N-termini extends outward and captures Cu(II) from the blood carrier protein, after that it reduces Cu(II) to Cu(I) state and preserves the reduced Cu(I) oxidation state. The extracellular domain of hCTR1 holds both Cu(II) and Cu(I) binding sites: 1MDHxHH and 22HHH, serve as two Cu(II) binding sites; 7MxMxxM and 41MMMxM, comprise the first Cu(I) binding sites in the extracellular domain of hCTR1. The extracellular hCTR1 domain is also characterized by two glycosylation sites, N15 and T27. The transmembrane domain of hCTR1 is characterized by 150MxxxM and 167GxxxG motifs. In the second transmembrane helix, M150 and M154 are considered as Cu(I)-binding residues. There are two methionine triads lining the pore, and these methionine rings have soft sulfur ligands and create the "selectivity filter" for Cu(I), that excludes harder ions such as Ca(II). The hCTR1 C-terminal domain controls the distribution of Cu(I), it plays a role in copper trafficking and regulation. It interacts with metallochaperones and with the of the 188HCH motif transfers the Cu(I) ion to Atox1. Althogether hCTR1 operates as a dynamic, adaptable transporter, delicately balancing the flexibility and selectivity of copper ions.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Background from the literature

Scottish Labour suspends Wilma Brown, its parliamentary candidate for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, following reports she liked racist and Islamophobic posts on social media. 11 April – The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology says that the legal fees for Michelle Donelan came to over £19,000. Sally Bunce, the Green Party candidate for Mayor of the Tees Valley in the May election, drops out of the contest saying she does not want to split the vote against the Conservative candidate. Reform UK apologise to the family of their dropped candidate for York Central Tommy Cawkwell for "inactivity" not knowing that he had died. Joe Haines and Lord Donoughue, who were two of Harold Wilson's advisers during his time as prime minister, tell The Times that Wilson had an affair with his deputy press secretary, Janet Hewlett-Davies, during the 1970s. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is refused permission to rename its town hall complex after the late Queen Elizabeth II. 12 April – Greater Manchester Police launch an investigation into Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner, over the sale of her council house amid allegations she broke electoral law by giving false information about her place of residence. Rayner pledges to step down if she is found guilty of any crime. Keir Starmer says that if elected to government, Labour will raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP. He also makes an "unshakable" commitment to nuclear weapons.

Metalloprotease inhibitors are cellular inhibitors of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). MMPs belong to a family of zinc-dependent neutral endopeptidases. These enzymes have the ability to break down connective tissue. The expression of MMPs is increased in various pathological conditions like inflammatory conditions, metabolic bone disease, to cancer invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. Examples of diseases are periodontitis, hepatitis, glomerulonephritis, atherosclerosis, emphysema, asthma, autoimmune disorders of skin and dermal photoaging, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, chronic ulcerations, uterine involution, corneal epithelial defects, bone resorption and tumor progression and metastasis. Due to the role of MMPs in pathological conditions, inhibitors of MMPs may have therapeutic potential. Several other proteins have similar inhibitory effects, however none as effective (netrins, procollagen C-terminal proteinase enhancer (PCPE), reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) and tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI-2)). They might have other biological activities which have yet been fully characterised. MMP inhibitors can broadly be subdivided into non-synthetic (e.g. endogenous) or synthetic. Several potent MMP inhibitors have been identified, including hydroxymates, thiols, carbamoylphosphonates, hydroxyureas, hydrazines, β-lactams, squaric acids and nitrogenous ligands. There are three classes of commonly used inhibitors for metalloproteinases.

Thorium (90Th) has seven naturally occurring isotopes but none are stable. One isotope, 232Th, is relatively stable, with a half-life of 1.40×1010 years, considerably longer than the age of the Earth, and even slightly longer than the generally accepted age of the universe. This isotope makes up nearly all natural thorium, so thorium was considered to be mononuclidic. However, in 2013, IUPAC reclassified thorium as binuclidic, due to large amounts of 230Th in deep seawater. Thorium has a characteristic terrestrial isotopic composition and thus a standard atomic weight can be given. Thirty-one radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 232Th, 230Th with a half-life of 75,400 years, 229Th with a half-life of 7,916 years, and 228Th with a half-life of 1.91 years. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than thirty days and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than ten minutes. One isotope, 229Th, has a nuclear isomer (or metastable state) with a remarkably low excitation energy, recently measured to be 8.355733554021(8) eV It has been proposed to perform laser spectroscopy of the 229Th nucleus and use the low-energy transition for the development of a nuclear clock of extremely high accuracy. The known isotopes of thorium range in mass number from 207 to 238.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reference notes

=== Schools === Le Havre is located in the Academy of Rouen. The city operates 55 kindergartens (254 classes) and 49 communal primary schools (402 classes). The department manages 16 colleges and the region of Normandy manages 9 schools. The Jules Valles college in Caucriauville is classified as a sensitive institution and eleven colleges are in a priority education zone (ZEP). A boarding school of excellence, the Claude Bernard college, opened in 2011. The first college in Le Havre dates to the 16th century, the high school François I was founded during the Second Empire and is the oldest in Le Havre. The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) and Raymond Aron (1905–1983) taught there. The writer Armand Salacrou (1899–1989) studied in this institution.

Arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) are highly glycosylated proteins (glycoproteins) found in the cell walls of plants. Each one consists of a protein with sugar molecules attached (which can account for more than 90% of the total mass). They are members of the wider class of hydroxyproline (Hyp)-rich cell wall glycoproteins, a large and diverse group of glycosylated wall proteins. AGPs have been reported in a wide range of higher plants in seeds, roots, stems, leaves and inflorescences. AGPs account for only a small portion of the cell wall, usually no more than 1% of dry mass of the primary wall. They have also been reported in secretions of cell culture medium of root, leaf, endosperm and embryo tissues, and some exudate producing cell types such as stylar canal cells are capable of producing lavish amounts of AGPs. They are implicated in various aspects of plant growth and development, including root elongation, somatic embryogenesis, hormone responses, xylem differentiation, pollen tube growth and guidance, programmed cell death, cell expansion, salt tolerance, host-pathogen interactions, and cellular signaling. AGPs have attracted considerable attention due to their highly complex structures and potential roles in signalling. In addition, they have industrial and health applications due to their chemical/physical properties (water-holding, adhesion and emulsification).

=== COVID-19 pandemic === In June 2020, following Novak Djokovic's Adria Tour, several players tested positive for COVID-19. Due to his possible exposure, Zverev announced on Twitter that he would be following self-isolation procedures after testing negative for the virus. However, one week later, Zverev was captured on video at a party in Monaco, prompting criticism from fellow tennis players Nick Kyrgios and Katie Boulter.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Frequently asked questions

What is epitalon made of?

Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide composed of four amino acids: alanine, glutamate, aspartate, and glycine. It is written as Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly. The free peptide has a molecular weight of about 390 daltons and is normally supplied as a lyophilized powder.

Is epitalon extracted from the pineal gland?

No. Epitalon is chemically synthesized, not extracted. It was designed as a short synthetic fragment conceptually related to larger pineal peptides studied in the same research tradition, particularly the extract known as epithalamin. The two are distinct materials with different compositions.

Why is epitalon described as a bioregulator?

The term bioregulator is used in this research tradition for short peptides proposed to influence gene expression or cell function. Epitalon is grouped with other synthetic short peptides under this label. The term reflects a proposed mechanism rather than an established drug classification.

Is epitalon a natural substance?

It is a synthetic tetrapeptide. Its sequence was derived from research on peptide fractions of bovine pineal extract, and the intact AEDG sequence has not been demonstrated as an abundant free peptide in human tissue.

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