This is a working overview of Heptapeptide, written for readers who want more than a one-paragraph summary but less than a textbook.
This page was last updated on 2026-07-31 and is reviewed periodically as new material appears.
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 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.
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.
Published work on this peptide almost always uses intranasal delivery, with drops or a spray applied to the nasal mucosa. Some animal experiments have used subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection, and a smaller number have compared routes directly. Oral administration is not a focus of the literature, because short peptides of this size are broken down by digestive enzymes and cross intestinal barriers poorly. How much of an intranasal dose reaches the bloodstream intact in humans remains an open question.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C33H57N11O9 | Free peptide form |
| Molecular mass | About 751.9 Da | Calculated average mass |
| Amino acid sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Single-letter form TKPRPGP |
| Structural basis | Tuftsin analogue | Extended version of a natural tetrapeptide |
| Development origin | Russian Academy of Sciences | Work carried out from the 1980s onward |
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.
Selank is not a naturally occurring peptide and has no known endogenous counterpart in human physiology. Russian-language sources frequently call it TP-7, while English-language sources use the name Selank almost exclusively. Database indexing is uneven, partly because early reports appeared in regional journals that are not widely cataloged. Some summaries describe the material as a tuftsin analog and others as a synthetic heptapeptide; the labels overlap rather than conflict. Citing the primary sequence resolves ambiguity more reliably than the research or trade name alone.
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.
Characterization of Selank in laboratory settings relies on standard peptide analytical techniques. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography separates the peptide from related impurities and degradation products, while mass spectrometry confirms molecular identity through accurate mass measurement. Amino acid analysis and peptide sequencing verify the primary structure when reference material is unavailable. Because Selank is a short chain, fragmentation-based analysis produces a diagnostic ion pattern that supports confident identification.
Peptide stability depends strongly on temperature, moisture, and pH. Lyophilized Selank is generally most stable when stored cold and dry, with freezer temperatures commonly used for long-term storage. In solution, the compound is susceptible to hydrolysis and to microbial growth if it is not handled aseptically. The C-terminal proline-rich extension appears to slow enzymatic cleavage relative to tuftsin, though quantitative degradation rates vary with the matrix and the conditions tested. Published stability data specific to Selank remain sparse.
Pharmacokinetic data are sparse and largely derived from animal work. After intranasal administration the peptide appears in plasma within minutes, and reported half-lives are short, on the order of minutes to tens of minutes. Degradation proceeds through ordinary proteolytic cleavage into constituent amino acids and smaller fragments. Direct evidence that intact Selank reaches brain tissue in meaningful amounts is limited, and the extent of blood-brain barrier penetration is debated. Some authors argue that fragments, not the parent peptide, carry much of the observed activity.
Published clinical work is concentrated in Russian-language journals and generally involves small samples without independent replication. Systematic reviews in English note the shortage of randomised, placebo-controlled trials and the difficulty of verifying methods from translated reports. Outcome measures vary between studies, which complicates pooling of results. Interest in the compound as a cognitive or anxiolytic agent therefore rests on a thinner evidence base than the volume of citations suggests. Replication in well-powered trials with preregistered endpoints would be needed before firm conclusions about efficacy can be drawn.
Proposed mechanisms centre on the GABAergic system. Animal and tissue studies report changes in GABA-A receptor expression and reduced activity of GABA transaminase, the enzyme that degrades GABA. Effects on monoamine turnover, including serotonin and dopamine pathways, are also described, and a separate line of work links the peptide to increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in hippocampal tissue. Most of these findings come from rodent models and cell preparations. How the individual observations combine into a single coherent mode of action is not settled.
Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection near 214 nanometres is the standard purity method. Mass spectrometry, typically electrospray ionisation, confirms identity through the expected mass-to-charge pattern. Amino acid analysis can verify composition independently. Chiral purity requires separate techniques such as derivatisation followed by chromatographic separation, and such data are rarely reported for research-grade material.
Quantification in biological matrices relies on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry with stable-isotope internal standards. Low plasma concentrations and adsorption to container surfaces both complicate measurement. Solid-phase extraction is often needed to reduce matrix interference before injection. Reported limits of quantification differ widely between laboratories, which makes direct comparison of pharmacokinetic results difficult and limits meta-analysis.
Peptide bonds are vulnerable to protease attack, and Selank is no exception. Measured half-life in serum is short, on the order of minutes in several reports, which explains why intranasal administration is the common route described in the literature. Absorption across the nasal mucosa partially bypasses first-pass hepatic metabolism. Quantitative data on human bioavailability remain limited and are difficult to compare across studies.
==== Adequacy of equipment and regulations ==== The factory was not well equipped to handle the gas created by the sudden addition of water to the MIC tank. The MIC tank alarms had not been working for four years and there was only one manual back-up system, compared to a four-stage system used in the United States. The flare tower and several vent gas scrubbers had been out of service for five months before the disaster. Only one gas scrubber was operating: it could not treat such a large amount of MIC with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which would have brought the concentration down to a safe level. The flare tower could only handle a quarter of the gas that leaked in 1984, and moreover it was out of order at the time of the accident. To reduce energy costs, the refrigeration system was idle. The MIC was kept at 20 degrees Celsius, not the 4.5 degrees advised by the manual. Even the steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes, was non-operational for unknown reasons. Slip-blind plates that would have prevented water from pipes being cleaned from leaking into the MIC tanks if the valves had been faulty were not installed and their installation had been omitted from the cleaning checklist. As MIC is water-soluble, deluge guns were in place to contain escaping gases from the stack. The water pressure was too weak for the guns to spray high enough to reach the gas which would have reduced the concentration of escaping gas significantly. In addition to it, carbon steel valves were used at the factory, even though they were known to corrode when exposed to acid.
THC, referred to as dronabinol in the pharmaceutical context, is approved in the United States as a capsule or solution to relieve chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and HIV/AIDS-induced anorexia. THC is an active ingredient in nabiximols (Sativex), a specific extract of Cannabis that was approved as a botanical drug in the United Kingdom in 2010 as a mouth spray for people with multiple sclerosis to alleviate neuropathic pain, spasticity, overactive bladder, and other symptoms. Nabiximols (as Sativex) is available as a prescription drug in Canada. In 2021, nabiximols was approved for medical use in Ukraine. THC is sometimes prescribed off-label to treat glaucoma, Crohn's disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
== Uses == Helium mass spectrometer leak detectors are used in production line industries such as refrigeration and air conditioning, automotive parts, carbonated beverage containers food packages and aerosol packaging, as well as in the manufacture of steam products, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, tire valves, heat exchangers and numerous other products including all vacuum systems.
== History == In the 1950s, major breakthroughs in psychopharmacology occurred around the world. Then throughout the 1960s and 1970s major advances were made in synthesizing and identifying psychoactive drugs which were useful in the treatment of various mental disorders. Here, scientists had realised that these drugs interact with receptors located on neurons that led to changes in neural functioning. The connection was made shortly after the discovery of catecholamines having effects on emotion, relating to depression, and was of wide interest. Discovery was made on the decreased levels of certain neurotransmitters, catecholamines such as norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin, and their role in the pathogenesis of depression. These past discoveries in psychopharmacology led to the development of antidepressants and a range of drugs with different functions on those neurotransmitters. But a new generation of antidepressants were resulted from the discovery of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (e.g., fluoxetine). Although SSRIs are a group of effective antidepressant drugs with considerably few severe side effects, they are not universally effective and can also have a few unpleasant side effects, such as weight gain, sleep disturbances and anxiety. Pharmacologically and chemically unrelated to SSRIs, the past four decades, norepinephrine has been asserted to play an important, possibly primary, role in the treatment of mental disorders.
Ellipse is the third studio album from British singer-songwriter Imogen Heap. After returning from a round the world writing trip, Heap completed the album at her childhood home in Essex, converting her old playroom in the basement into a studio. The album got its name from the distinctive elliptical shape of the house. The album's title was confirmed by Heap via her Twitter page on 25 April 2009, after being leaked onto the internet on 23 April. On 15 June, Heap confirmed that the album would be released on 24 August 2009 in the United Kingdom on Megaphonic Records and 25 August in North America on RCA Records and Epic Records and distributed by Sony BMG.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Contemporary === On Rotten Tomatoes it has a score of 38% based on 13 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F. Before release, Stonebridge executive Andrew Pfeiffer warned: "This kind of movie is not designed to get good reviews." The Variety reviewer credited as Bril. expressed doubts about Bosworth's star potential and assessed: "Actually, the budding star here is probably director Craig R. Baxley, who recently directed the sci-fi thriller I Come in Peace. He shows a real flair for stunt work and action sequences in both works.
=== Allergy === A study published online in March 2008 showed that Colostrinin is non-allergenic and can prevent allergic inflammation due to common indoor and outdoor allergens. The study used a well characterized mouse model of allergic airway inflammation. Colostrinin (given orally, intranasally or intraperitoneally) significantly decreased IgE/IgG1 production, airway eosinophilia, mucin production and hypersensitivity induced by allergenic extracts from ragweed pollen and house dust mites. In contrast, colostrum induced positive inflammatory responses.
== Nicholson atom theory == In 1911 John William Nicholson published a model of the atom based on classical electrodynamics along the lines of J.J. Thomson's plum pudding model but with the negative electrons orbiting a positive nucleus rather than circulating in a sphere. To avoid immediate collapse of this system he required that electrons come in pairs so the rotational acceleration of each electron was matched across the orbit. Nicholson developed his model based on the analysis of astrophysical spectroscopy. He connected the observed spectral line frequencies with the orbits of electrons in his atoms. The connection he adopted associated the atomic electron orbital angular momentum with the Planck constant. Whereas Planck focused on a quantum of energy, Nicholson's angular momentum quantum relates to orbital frequency. This new concept gave Planck constant an atomic meaning for the first time. Nicholson's model is rarely discussed today but it heavily influenced the important Bohr quantum atom model. Nicholson's spectral results were in good agreement with experiment, forcing Bohr to address these results in his subsequent theory. By 1913 Bohr had already shown, from the analysis of alpha particle energy loss, that hydrogen had only a single electron not a matched pair required by Nicholson's model. In his 1913 paper on atoms, Bohr cites Nicholson as finding quantized angular momentum important for the atom. Bohr quantization would associate emission with differences in the energy levels hydrogen rather than being directly related to the orbital frequency.
== Repeat-induced point mutation == In molecular biology, repeat-induced point mutation or RIP is a process by which DNA accumulates G:C to A:T transition mutations. Genomic evidence indicates that RIP occurs or has occurred in a variety of fungi while experimental evidence indicates that RIP is active in Neurospora crassa, Podospora anserina, Magnaporthe grisea, Leptosphaeria maculans, Gibberella zeae, Nectria haematococca and Paecilomyces variotii. In Neurospora crassa, sequences mutated by RIP are often methylated de novo. RIP occurs during the sexual stage in haploid nuclei after fertilization but prior to meiotic DNA replication. In Neurospora crassa, repeat sequences of at least 400 base pairs in length are vulnerable to RIP. Repeats with as low as 80% nucleotide identity may also be subject to RIP. Though the exact mechanism of repeat recognition and mutagenesis are poorly understood, RIP results in repeated sequences undergoing multiple transition mutations. The RIP mutations do not seem to be limited to repeated sequences. Indeed, for example, in the phytopathogenic fungus L. maculans, RIP mutations are found in single copy regions, adjacent to the repeated elements. These regions are either non-coding regions or genes encoding small secreted proteins including avirulence genes. The degree of RIP within these single copy regions was proportional to their proximity to repetitive elements. Rep and Kistler have speculated that the presence of highly repetitive regions containing transposons, may promote mutation of resident effector genes.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Lev–Ly === Phoebus Levene (1869–1940). Russian-American biochemist at the Rockefeller Institute, who discovered that DNA was composed of nucleobases and phosphate. Member Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. Cyrus Levinthal (1922–1990). American molecular biologist at Columbia, known for theoretical analysis of protein folding, and for Levinthal's paradox. Alexander Levitzki (b. 1940). Israeli biochemist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known for developing specific chemical inhibitors of cancer-induced protein kinases. Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Michael Levitt FRS (b. 1947). American-British-Israeli-South African biophysicist at Stanford. Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2013). Member Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. Choh Hao Li (1913–1987). Chinese-American biochemist at UC Berkeley. Known for discovering and synthesizing the human pituitary growth hormone. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Academia Sinica). Member Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. Justus von Liebig (1803–1873). German scientist at the University of Giessen who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry; one of the founders of organic chemistry. Hans Lineweaver (1907–2009). American physical chemist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, known mainly for popularizing the double-reciprocal plot. Anthony William Linnane FRS (1930–2017). Australian biochemist at Monash University, known for work on mitochondria, and in particular for the relationship between mitochondrial damage and aging. Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. Fritz Lipmann (1899–1986).
=== Temperature: Gas Mark === Gas Mark is a temperature scale, predominantly found on British ovens, that scales linearly with temperature above 135 °C (Gas Mark 1) and scales with the log of Celsius below 135 °C.
There are also common comorbid psychiatric conditions with aging anorexics, including major depression, anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and dementia. The signs and symptoms that go along with anorexia of aging are similar to what is observed in adolescent anorexia, including sudden weight loss, unexplained hair loss or dental problems, and a desire to eat alone. There are also several medical conditions that can result from anorexia in the elderly. An increased risk of illness and death can be a result of anorexia. There is also a decline in muscle and bone mass as a result of a reduction in protein intake during anorexia. Another result of anorexia in the aging population is irreparable damage to kidneys, heart or colon and an imbalance of electrolytes. Many assessments are available to diagnose anorexia in the aging community. These assessments include the Simplified Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ) and Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy (FAACT). Specific to the geriatric populace, the interRAI system identifies detrimental conditions in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Even a simple screening for nutritional insufficiencies such as low levels of important vitamins, can help to identify someone who has anorexia of aging. Anorexia in the elderly should be identified by the retirement communities but is often overlooked, especially in patients with dementia.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is a seven-amino-acid peptide, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, produced by chemical synthesis rather than extracted from biological tissue. Its design is based on tuftsin, a natural immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. The C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro segment is a common stabilising motif in short regulatory peptides.
The core four residues correspond to tuftsin, which occurs naturally as part of immunoglobulin G. The full seven-residue sequence, however, is not a known endogenous peptide. It is a laboratory-designed analogue intended to combine tuftsin-like activity with greater resistance to breakdown.
No single receptor has been confirmed as the primary target. Reports describe involvement of the GABAergic system, interference with enkephalin degradation, and shifts in neurotrophic factor expression. Because these observations come from different models and assays, they have not yet been integrated into one accepted mechanism.
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.