Epitalon

What Epitalon is

Epitalon (also written Epithalon, or the AEDG peptide) is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly and a molecular weight of about 390 g/mol. It was designed in St Petersburg by the group of Vladimir Khavinson as a short synthetic counterpart of epithalamin, a polypeptide extract of the bovine pineal gland studied in Soviet and Russian gerontology. With only four residues it is among the shortest peptides in this research field. Epitalon is supplied here as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder for laboratory research.

What the research examines

Telomerase and cell senescence. A 2003 study exposed cultured human fetal fibroblasts to the peptide and reported activation of telomerase, expression of its catalytic subunit and elongation of telomeres, together with a larger number of cell divisions before senescence. Related work from the same group examined chromatin condensation in lymphocytes cultured from elderly donors.

Rodent lifespan and tumours. Lifetime studies in female SHR mice measured biomarkers of ageing, survival and spontaneous tumour incidence in treated and control animals. A rat study examined colon carcinogenesis induced by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine, comparing tumour number, size and invasiveness between groups. These experiments were carried out by the same St Petersburg group with collaborators in oncology.

Pineal function and melatonin. Experiments in young and old rats measured melatonin secretion by the pineal gland, both in organ culture and in living animals, and compared the response to the tetrapeptide between age groups. Related work in aged rhesus monkeys measured the circadian rhythm of plasma melatonin and cortisol.

Neural gene expression. A 2020 study used human mesenchymal stem cells of oral origin induced towards neural differentiation, measuring expression of neurogenesis-related genes and proteins after exposure to the peptide, and used molecular modelling to propose direct binding of the tetrapeptide to DNA as a possible epigenetic mechanism.

The evidence on epitalon comes almost entirely from one research group in St Petersburg and its collaborators, in cell culture, rodents and non-human primates. Small clinical studies published in Russian-language journals mostly concern the related pineal extract rather than the tetrapeptide itself, and independent replication is limited. Epitalon is not an approved medicine, and this page makes no claims about effects in humans.

Selected literature

• Khavinson VK, et al. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, 2003, human fibroblast cell culture. doi:10.1023/A:1025493705728
• Anisimov VN, et al. Biogerontology, 2003, lifetime mouse study. doi:10.1023/A:1025114230714
• Anisimov VN, et al. Cancer Letters, 2002, rat carcinogenesis model. doi:10.1016/S0304-3835(02)00090-3
• Djeridane Y, et al. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, 2003, rat pineal study, in vitro and in vivo. doi:10.1007/BF03345159
• Khavinson V, et al. Molecules, 2020, human stem-cell culture and molecular modelling. doi:10.3390/molecules25030609

Every reference is listed with its DOI in the research library.

Handling in the laboratory

Store sealed at 2–8 °C for routine use or frozen for long-term storage, protected from light and moisture. Let the vial reach room temperature before opening. See Storage and handling of lyophilized research peptides.