Selank

What Selank is

Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. Its first four residues are tuftsin, a fragment of the immunoglobulin G heavy chain first described in 1970, to which the tripeptide Pro-Gly-Pro was added to slow enzymatic breakdown. It was designed in the 1990s at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the Zakusov Institute of Pharmacology, and in 2009 it was registered as a medicine in Russia under the name Selank. It is water-soluble and is supplied here as a lyophilized (freeze-dried) powder for laboratory research.

What the research examines

Anxiety-related behaviour. Rodent studies from the originating institutes compared Selank with benzodiazepines in tests of anxiety and stress-related behaviour, including elevated-plus-maze, open-field and conflict paradigms and a chronic mild stress model in rats. These studies measured exploratory activity, avoidance behaviour and stress-hormone markers, and reported changes in the same direction as the reference compounds without the sedation or muscle relaxation seen with them.

GABAergic and monoamine signalling. Gene-expression studies in rat brain and in human IMR-32 neuroblastoma cells measured transcripts for GABA-A receptor subunits and related genes after exposure to Selank, alone or with GABA, and reported altered expression of several subunits. Other work examined serotonin turnover and the activity of enkephalin-degrading enzymes in blood samples from animals and from people in the clinical studies.

Immune gene expression. Because Selank derives from tuftsin, a peptide with immune functions, studies in mouse spleen and in peripheral blood cells measured the expression of cytokine, chemokine and interferon-related genes at several time points after exposure and reported changes in a set of inflammation-related transcripts.

Human studies. Open comparative studies in Russia examined Selank in people with anxiety disorders. A 62-participant study in generalised anxiety disorder and neurasthenia compared Selank (n=30) with medazepam (n=32) on anxiety-rating scales. A 2015 study of 70 people with anxiety-phobic, hypochondriac and somatoform disorders compared phenazepam alone (n=30) with phenazepam plus Selank (n=40) using the HDRS, CGI, Spielberger and UKU scales, and reported fewer tranquilliser-type side effects in the combined group.

Almost all published work comes from the Russian institutes that developed the peptide: animal and cell studies alongside small open clinical studies without placebo control. Selank was registered as a medicine in Russia in 2009 (Selank, Peptogen), where it is sold as an anxiolytic; it is not authorised elsewhere. The research-grade material sold here is not a medicine, and this page makes no claims about effects in humans.

Selected literature

• Vyunova TV, et al. Protein & Peptide Letters, 2018, review. doi:10.2174/0929866525666180925144642
• Kozlovskaya MM, et al. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 2003, rodent behavioural studies. doi:10.1023/A:1025988519919
• Volkova A, et al. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2016, rat gene-expression study. doi:10.3389/fphar.2016.00031
• Kolomin T, et al. Regulatory Peptides, 2011, mouse gene-expression study. doi:10.1016/j.regpep.2011.05.001
• Medvedev VE, et al. Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova, 2015, open comparative clinical study, 70 participants (Russian). doi:10.17116/jnevro20151156133-40

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.