heptapeptide is one of those subjects where the details matter more than the headlines. This page pulls together the background, the mechanisms, and the practical points readers ask about most.
Last reviewed on 2026-08-01. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, written TKPRPGP in one-letter notation. Its structure consists of the immunomodulatory tetrapeptide tuftsin, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg, extended at the carboxyl terminus by a Pro-Gly-Pro segment. The molecular formula is commonly given as C33H57N11O9, corresponding to a monoisotopic mass near 751.4 Da and an average molecular mass near 751.9 Da. All seven residues are proteinogenic amino acids, and the molecule carries no modified side chains or non-natural linkages.
The compound was designed at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences during the 1980s and 1990s. The stated design goal was to retain the immunomodulatory and central nervous system activity attributed to tuftsin while improving resistance to enzymatic breakdown. Adding a proline-rich tail to the short parent peptide was a deliberate strategy, because proline residues restrict the conformations available to many peptidases. The same laboratory produced Semax, an ACTH fragment analog, and both compounds were developed in parallel as short, enzymatically stabilized peptides intended for intranasal use.
Animal studies have examined behaviour in tests of anxiety, memory retention and stress response, and several report changes in neurotrophic or neurotransmitter-related markers. The human evidence base is much smaller, consisting mainly of short trials conducted in Russia with limited reporting in English-language journals. Sample sizes are modest and outcome measures vary between studies, so the findings are best described as preliminary. Independent replication under modern trial standards has not been widely reported.
Outside its country of origin the compound is generally handled as a research chemical rather than an approved medicine. No regulatory approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency has been granted for human use. Identity and purity are normally checked by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, with mass spectrometry used to confirm the molecular mass. Lyophilised material is stored cold and desiccated, and repeated freeze-thaw cycles are avoided.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peptide sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Seven residues; tuftsin plus a Pro-Gly-Pro tail |
| Molecular formula | C33H57N11O9 | Commonly reported value for the free peptide |
| Monoisotopic mass | Roughly 751.4 Da | Average molecular mass near 751.9 Da |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typically supplied as a lyophilized solid |
| Solubility class | Freely soluble in water | Also dissolves in saline and other polar solvents |
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. It was designed at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences as a structural analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring tetrapeptide fragment of the immunoglobulin heavy chain. The added Pro-Gly-Pro tail was intended to slow enzymatic degradation and extend biological activity. In Russia it is registered as an anxiolytic nasal preparation, while regulators elsewhere have not approved it for clinical use.
Proposed mechanisms centre on modulation of the GABAergic system, with reports of altered expression of genes related to GABA-A receptor subunits and changed monoamine turnover. Some studies describe inhibition of enkephalinase, the enzyme that degrades endogenous enkephalins, which may prolong opioid peptide signalling. Effects on brain-derived neurotrophic factor and on cytokine expression have also been reported. These findings come largely from animal models and small human studies, and the precise primary target remains unresolved.
Published clinical evidence is limited. Most controlled trials were conducted in Russia, enrolled modest numbers of participants, and appeared in Russian-language journals, which restricts independent verification. Reported outcomes include lower anxiety scores, improved attention and memory measures, and changes in fatigue ratings. Reviews written in English note methodological limitations such as small samples and inconsistent endpoints. Whether the compound produces clinically meaningful benefit relative to established anxiolytics is therefore an open question rather than an established finding.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. It was designed as a stabilized analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring tetrapeptide fragment derived from the immunoglobulin heavy chain. The additional Pro-Gly-Pro segment at the carboxyl terminus is intended to slow enzymatic cleavage. The compound is usually described in the literature as a synthetic peptide with anxiolytic and cognitive-related activity, a label that reflects a research context rather than an approved therapeutic category.
Most published work on selank originates from a small number of research groups in the Russian Federation. A large share of that record appears in Russian-language journals, which limits access for readers who rely on English-indexed databases. Independent replication by laboratories outside the original research network is sparse in publicly available sources. This concentration of origin and language is a frequently noted feature when the compound is summarized in broader reviews of synthetic peptides.
Reported pharmacological effects center on reduced anxiety-like behavior in animal models and on measures of memory and learning. Proposed contributing mechanisms include modulation of GABAergic signaling, shifts in monoamine turnover, and changes in the activity of enzymes that degrade neuropeptides. Effects on the expression of genes linked to neuroplasticity have also been described. No single molecular target is widely accepted, and whether the behavioral findings arise from one pathway or several remains an open question.
Hanisch published a paper describing "A Method for Preparing Testosterone from Cholesterol." Only a week later, the third group, Ruzicka and A. Wettstein, announced a patent application in a paper "On the Artificial Preparation of the Testicular Hormone Testosterone (Androsten-3-one-17-ol)." Ruzicka and Butenandt were offered the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work, but the Nazi government forced Butenandt to decline the honor, although he accepted the prize after the end of World War II. Clinical trials on humans, involving either PO doses of methyltestosterone or injections of testosterone propionate, began as early as 1937. There are often reported rumors that German soldiers were administered AAS during the Second World War, the aim being to increase their aggression and stamina, but these are, as yet, unproven. Adolf Hitler himself, according to his physician, was injected with testosterone derivatives to treat various ailments. AAS were used in experiments conducted by the Nazis on concentration camp inmates, and later by the allies attempting to treat the malnourished victims that survived Nazi camps. President John F. Kennedy was administered steroids both before and during his presidency.
=== CANOPUS: Compound class prediction === CANOPUS is short for class assignment and ontology prediction using mass spectrometry. It predicts the compound classes from the molecular fingerprint predicted by CSI:FingerID. This approach is completely database-free, i.e. it is not even limited to molecules that are listed in structure databases. CANOPUS employs a deep neural network (DNN) to predict 2,497 compound classes. The DNN was trained on 4.10 million compound structures with compound classes assigned by ClassyFire. No MS/MS data was used for training, but instead simulated 'realistic' probabilistic fingerprints for the training molecular structures were used. The DNN predicts all compound classes simultaneously. For full biological datasets, CANOPUS provides a comprehensive overview of compound classes present in the sample and allows for comparisons between different cohorts at compound class level.
According to the article: "More than a dozen prominent Washington research groups have received tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments in recent years while pushing United States government officials to adopt policies that often reflect the donors' priorities."
Edwards Ltd is a British multinational vacuum pump and exhaust gas management systems manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Burgess Hill, UK, and has been part of the Atlas Copco Group since 2014. Edwards holds 1,700 patents, including for dry (oil-free) vacuum pumps, and produces equipment used for manufacturing semiconductors, scientific research, freeze drying and other industries. Its pumps remove contaminants at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Manufacturing is predominantly handled by subsidiary businesses in the Czech Republic, South Korea, USA and China. Edwards' global research and development facilities remain in the UK. Major customers in 2012 included Samsung, Hynix, Agilent and LG.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== The Irrational TV show === Ariely's life, research, and best-selling book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions inspired the NBC television series The Irrational, which premiered on September 25, 2023. The show's protagonist, Professor Alec Mercer, who is portrayed by Jesse L. Martin, was based on Ariely.
=== Impaired glucose tolerance === Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is diagnosed with an oral glucose tolerance test. According to the criteria of the World Health Organization and the American Diabetes Association, impaired glucose tolerance is defined as:
Vicilin is a legumin-associated globulin protein. It is a storage protein found in legumes such as the pea or lentil that protects plants from fungi and microorganisms. It is believed to be an allergen in pea and peanut allergy responses.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
==== 1970s ==== Starbucks originally opened in Seattle, Washington, on March 30, 1971. By selling coffee beans and related equipment, Starbucks became a local coffee bean retailer for the first ten years in Seattle. It was founded by business partners Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker who first met as students at the University of San Francisco. The trio were inspired to sell high-quality coffee beans and equipment by coffee roasting entrepreneur Alfred Peet. Bowker recalls that a business partner of his, Terry Heckler, thought words beginning with the letters "st" were powerful, leading the founders to create a list of words beginning with "st", hoping to find a brand name. They chose "Starbo", a misreading of the mining town Storbo in the Cascade Range named after Peter Storbo, founder and president of the Mount Rainier Mining Company. From there, the group remembered "Starbuck", the name of the chief mate in the book Moby-Dick. Bowker said, "Moby-Dick didn't have anything to do with Starbucks directly; it was only coincidental that the sound seemed to make sense." The first Starbucks store was located in Seattle, at 2000 Western Avenue, from 1971 to 1976. The café was later moved to 1912 Pike Place. During this time, Starbucks stores sold just coffee beans and not drinks. In its first two years of operation, Starbucks purchased green coffee beans from Peet's Coffee & Tea. In 1973, Alfred Peet stopped supplying Starbucks and helped train their new Roastmaster, Jim Reynolds.
High potassium concentrations in the plasma cause depolarization of the zona glomerulosa cells' membranes in the outer layer of the adrenal cortex. This causes the release of aldosterone into the blood. Aldosterone acts primarily on the distal convoluted tubules and collecting ducts of the kidneys, stimulating the excretion of potassium ions into the urine. It does so, however, by activating the basolateral Na+/K+ pumps of the tubular epithelial cells. These sodium/potassium exchangers pump three sodium ions out of the cell, into the interstitial fluid and two potassium ions into the cell from the interstitial fluid. This creates an ionic concentration gradient which results in the reabsorption of sodium (Na+) ions from the tubular fluid into the blood, and secreting potassium (K+) ions from the blood into the urine (lumen of collecting duct).
=== Structure-activity-relationship (SAR) === An important part of designing a compound, that is an ideal inhibitor to a certain target, is to understand the amino acid sequence of the target site for the compound to bind to. Modelling both prothrombin and FXa makes it possible to deduct the difference and identify the amino acids at each binding site. At the bottom of the S1 pocket on FXa the binding amino acid is Asp-189 which amidine moieties can bind to. After X-raying the binding site of FXa, it was revealed that the S1 pocket had a planar shape, meaning that a flat amidinoaryl group should bind to it without steric hindrance. Modern direct Xa inhibitors are L-shaped molecules whose ends fit perfectly in the S1 and S4 pockets. The long side of the L-shape has to conform to a highly-specific tunnel within the targets active site. To accomplish that, this part of the molecules is designed to have little formal interactions with FXa in that region. As there is no specific bonding, the fit of these agents between the pockets of FXa increases the total specificity of the drugs to the FXa molecule. The interaction between the S1 pocket of FXa and the inhibitor can be both ionic or non-ionic, which is important because it allows the design of the moiety to be adjusted to increase oral bioavailability. Previously designed compounds were charged molecules that are not absorbed well in the gastrointestinal tract and therefore did not reach high serum concentrations.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
The sequence is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, written TKPRPGP in one-letter code. It combines the tetrapeptide tuftsin with a carboxyl-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro extension. This full sequence identifies the molecule more precisely than the research name.
No peptide with this exact sequence has been identified as an endogenous substance. It is a laboratory-designed analog of tuftsin, a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. The Pro-Gly-Pro extension has no known natural source.
Proline introduces conformational constraints that make a peptide less accessible to common peptidases. This is a standard stabilization strategy in peptide design. The added residues also increase the distance between the active tuftsin portion and typical cleavage sites.
Most published work uses intranasal application, either as drops or as a nasal spray. Injection routes appear in a smaller set of animal experiments. Oral use is uncommon in the literature because peptide breakdown and poor absorption limit this route.