This is a working overview of Heptapeptide, written for readers who want more than a one-paragraph summary but less than a textbook.
Reviewed 2026-07-30. Anything still debated is marked as such rather than presented as settled.
The compound has a calculated molecular weight near 751.9 daltons and carries a net positive charge at physiological pH because of its arginine residue. It dissolves freely in water and in common aqueous buffers, and typically appears as a white or off-white lyophilized powder. The amide backbone makes the molecule susceptible to peptidases, which limits oral use and favors intranasal or parenteral routes. Nomenclature in the literature varies: the substance is also described by the sequence abbreviation TP-7 and by a Russian trade designation.
Regulatory status differs sharply by region. Selank holds a Russian marketing authorization, where it is supplied mainly as nasal drops, while authorities elsewhere have not approved it for medical use. Material sold internationally is therefore usually labeled as a research chemical rather than a medicine. Peer-reviewed publications come predominantly from Russian laboratories, and sample sizes are generally small. Whether the compound produces comparable effects under independent, well-controlled replication remains an open question that the broader literature has not settled.
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.
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.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical class | Synthetic heptapeptide | Analog of the tetrapeptide tuftsin |
| Sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Reported consistently across pharmacopoeial descriptions |
| Appearance | White to off-white lyophilized powder | Typical form of research-grade material |
| Solubility | Freely soluble in water | Aqueous buffers; poor in nonpolar solvents |
| Typical storage temperature | -20 degrees Celsius | Lyophilized powder; protect from moisture |
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.
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.
== History == Around 1900, surgeons tried injecting paraffin into the lips without success. Liquid silicone was used for lip augmentation, starting in the early 1960s but was abandoned thirty years later due to fears about the effects of silicone on general health and long term aesthetic outcome. In about 1980, injectable bovine collagen was introduced to the cosmetic surgery market and became the standard against which other injectable fillers were measured. However, that collagen does not last very long and requires an allergy test, causing the patient to wait at least three weeks before another appointment, after which more waiting is required to see cosmetic results.
== External links == Indium Archived 2023-03-13 at the Wayback Machine at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham) Reducing Agents > Indium low valent Archived 2023-07-09 at the Wayback Machine NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) usgs.gov (Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025): Indium
=== Pharmacodynamics === The measurement of plasma uric acid was used to evaluate the effectiveness of rasburicase in clinical studies. Following administration of either 0.15 or 0.20 mg/kg rasburicase daily for up to 5 days, plasma uric acid levels decreased within 4 hours and were maintained below 7.5 mg/dL in 98% of adult and 90% of pediatric patients for at least 7 days. There was no evidence of a dose response effect on uric acid control for doses between 0.15 and 0.20 mg/kg rasburicase.
=== Future technology and research === Gene therapy is being explored as a treatment for missense mutations. This involves inserting the correct sequence of DNA into an incorrect gene. Artificial Intelligence programs, such as AlphaFold, are also being developed to predict the effect of missense mutations. Identifying potential deleterious mutations can assist with disease diagnosis and treatment.
Ciskei ( səss-KY, siss-, -KAY, meaning on this side of [the river] Kei), officially the Republic of Ciskei (Xhosa: iRiphabliki yeCiskei), was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people, located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of 7,700 square kilometres (3,000 sq mi), almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean. Under South Africa's policy of apartheid, land was set aside for black peoples in self-governing territories. Ciskei was designated as one of two homelands, or "Bantustans", for Xhosa-speaking people. Xhosa people were forcibly resettled in the Ciskei and Transkei, the other Xhosa homeland. In contrast to the Transkei, which was largely contiguous and deeply rural, and governed by hereditary chiefs, the area that became the Ciskei had initially been made up of a patchwork of "reserves", interspersed with pockets of white-owned farms. In Ciskei, there were elected headmen and a relatively educated working-class populace, but there was a tendency of the region's black residents—who often worked in East London, Queenstown, and King Williams Town—to oppose traditional methods of control. These differences have been posited as the reason for two separate homelands for the Xhosa people being developed, as well as the later nominal independence of Ciskei from South Africa, than Transkei.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
SpyTag and SpyCatcher were formed from the splitting and engineering of the CnaB2 domain of the FbaB protein from Streptococcus pyogenes, which naturally forms an intramolecular isopeptide bond to assist colonization of the host cell. With the formation of the isopeptide bond, the CnaB2 domain becomes more tolerant to conformational, thermal and pH changes. Building upon this, SpyTag was obtained from CnaB2 by extracting the C-terminal beta strand containing the reactive aspartic acid at D556 and leaving the rest of the beta strands containing the reactive lysine K470 and the catalytic glutamic acid at E516 to become SpyCatcher, after further engineering to remove some hydrophobic surface residues. The resulting SpyTag/SpyCatcher can react to form the isopeptide bond with a second-order rate constant of 1.4 ± 0.4 × 103 M−1 s−1. It is postulated that the reaction mechanism proceeds by a nucleophilic attack on D556 from K470, mediated by E516. By reconstituting SpyTag:SpyCatcher, the resulting conjugated complex acquires the stability of the parent CnaB2 domain. A second generation SpyTag/SpyCatcher called SpyTag002/SpyCatcher002 was then created through phage display that enables the peptide-protein pair to react up to 12 times faster than the original pair, at a rate constant of 2.0 ± 0.2 × 104 M−1 s−1. The second generation SpyCatcher002 also has abolished self-reactivity that is present with SpyCatcher. A third generation SpyTag/SpyCatcher called SpyTag003/SpyCatcher003 has now also been created through rational design.
== Function == The edited region contains a proposed heparin binding site and is also part of the recognition sequence for proteolytic cleavage. Heparin binding inhibits cell binding and cell adhesion functions of the protein. Cleavage which occurs at amino acid position 97 reduces heparin binding but modulates the growth stimulatory activity of the protein. Since the editing site occurs within this proposed heparin binding region the effects of editing may have implications for heparin binding and proteolytic cleavage and therefore have other affects downstream. Since the protein has been implicated in these processes it is believed editing might effect apoptosis, regulation of cell growth and angiogenesis.
=== Transcriptional modulation === Both human prohibitins have also been suggested to be localized in the cell nucleus and modulate transcriptional activity by interacting with various transcription factors, including nuclear receptors, either directly or indirectly. However, little evidence for nuclear targeting and transcription factor-binding of prohibitins has been found in other organism (yeast, plants, C. elegans, etc.), indicating that this may be a specific function in mammalian cells.
== Nanomaterial Interfaces == Applications of nanotechnology often depend on the lateral assembly and spatial arrangement of nanoparticles at interfaces. Chemical reactions can be induced at solid/liquid interfaces by manipulating the location and orientation of functional groups of nanoparticles. This can be achieved through external stimuli or direct manipulation. Changing the parameters of the external stimuli, such as light and electric fields, has a direct effect on assembled nanostructures. Likewise, direct manipulation takes advantage of photolithography techniques, along with scanning probe microscopy (SPM), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), just to name a few.
== Adverse effects == The most common reported adverse effects were nausea (19%), headache (20%), and implant site reactions (21%). Uncommon but potentially serious hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis were also reported. Afamelanotide was also found to sometimes induce darkening of certain pre-existing skin conditions, so regular full body skin examinations every 6 months is often recommended. Other common adverse effects reported during the clinical trials include back pain, upper respiratory tract infections, melanocyte naevus, decreased appetite, migraine, dizziness, weakness, fatigue, lethargy, sleepiness, hot flashes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, flushing, development of warts, spots, and freckles, and itchy skin (between 1% and 10% of people). Uncommon and rare adverse effects include cystitis, folliculitis, gastrointestinal infections, hypersensitivity reactions, changes in appetite, depression, insomnia, balance disorders, lethargy, restless leg syndrome, syncope, photophobia, presbyopia, tinnitus, confusion, palpitations, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, and weight gain.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== OXGR1 receptor-independent bioactions === The following actions of α-ketoglutarate have not been evaluated for their dependency on activating OXGR1 and are here assumed to be OXGR1-independent. Futures studies are needed to determine if OXGR1 contributes in whole or part to these actions of α-ketoglutarate.
Two principal varieties are used: Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, which is used for most Chinese, Formosan and Japanese teas, and C. sinensis var. assamica, used in Pu-erh and most Indian teas (but not Darjeeling). Within these botanical varieties, many strains and modern clonal varieties are known. Leaf size is the chief criterion for the classification of tea plants, with three primary classifications being: Assam type, characterised by the largest leaves; China type, characterised by the smallest leaves; and Cambodian type, characterised by leaves of intermediate size. The Cambodian-type tea (C. assamica subsp. lasiocaly) was originally considered a type of Assam tea. However, later genetic work showed that it is a hybrid between Chinese small-leaf tea and Assam-type large-leaf tea. Darjeeling tea appears to be another hybrid of the same sort.
A vent site in the Cayman Trough named Beebe, which is the world's deepest known hydrothermal site at ~5,000 m (16,000 ft) below sea level, has shown sustained supercritical venting at 401 °C (754 °F) and 2.3 wt% NaCl. Although supercritical conditions have been observed at several sites, it is not yet known what significance, if any, supercritical venting has in terms of hydrothermal circulation, mineral deposit formation, geochemical fluxes or biological activity. The initial stages of a vent chimney begin with the deposition of the mineral anhydrite. Sulfides of copper, iron, and zinc then precipitate in the chimney gaps, making it less porous over the course of time. Vent growths on the order of 30 cm (1 ft) per day have been recorded. An April 2007 exploration of the deep-sea vents off the coast of Fiji found those vents to be a significant source of dissolved iron (see iron cycle).
Z-DNA binding protein 1, also known as Zuotin, is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast gene. Zuo1 has been identified in vitro as a tRNA and Z-DNA binding protein. The name "zuotin" is derived from the Chinese word "zuo" meaning "left". It is a member of Hsp40 family. Like all other Hsp40 members it also contains a classic J domain. In 1990, Shuguang Zhang of MIT made a serendipitous discovery of a self-assembling peptide in yeast protein Zuotin. This discovery led to the development of a new field of peptide nanobiotechnology and to designs of a variety of self-assembling peptides for widespread uses, including peptide hydrogels in materials science, 3D tissue cell culture and tissue engineering, nanomedicine, sustained molecular releases, clinical and surgical applications. Zuotin and related proteins contain a unique Zuotin homology domain (ZHD). It associates with the Hsp70 family Ssz1 to form a ribosome associated complex (RAC). In such a complex, the N-terminal domains (including the J domain) associates with Ssz1p on the surface of the large (60S) ribosomal subunit. ZHD provides further contacts with the 60S subunit and connects to a subunit-spanning medium domain (MD), the "neck" of RAC. The four-helix-bundle RAC head domain is located at the C-terminus and binds the small (40S) subunit. The J domain-Ssz1p complex, located over the peptide exit tunnel of the large ribosomal subunit, helps the nascent peptide fold.
Afterwards, he reinforced this vision by implementing measures such as requiring ministers to declare their assets, limiting land applications to one piece per leader, discouraging conflicts of interest with public-listed companies, and advising against ostentation and visits to nightclubs. Mahathir further emphasized this vision by launching the "Leadership-by-Example" campaign in 1983 at Stadium Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, encouraging leaders and civil servants to uphold integrity, professionalism, and ethical behaviour in order to inspire public trust and ensure that national objectives were achieved through exemplary conduct. In 1983, Mahathir undertook one of the first challenges he had with Malaysia's royalty. The position of Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Malaysian head of state, was due to rotate into either the elderly Idris Shah II of Perak or the controversial Iskandar of Johor, who had only a few years earlier been convicted of manslaughter. Mahathir had grave reservations about the two Sultans, who were both activist rulers of their own states. Mahathir tried to pre-emptively limit the power that the new Agong could wield over his government. He introduced to parliament amendments to the Constitution to deem the Agong to assent to any bill that had not been assented within 15 days of passage by Parliament. The proposal removed the power to declare a state of emergency from the Agong and placed it with the prime minister.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Selank is a synthetic seven-amino-acid peptide modeled on tuftsin, a fragment of the immunoglobulin G heavy chain. It was designed in Russia to combine anxiolytic and immunomodulatory properties in one molecule.
The first four residues of Selank reproduce the tuftsin sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg. A Pro-Gly-Pro extension at the C-terminus was added to slow enzymatic breakdown and extend residence time.
It holds marketing authorization in Russia, where nasal drop formulations are sold. No equivalent approval exists in the European Union, the United States, or most other countries.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, designed as a metabolically stabilized analogue of the endogenous tetrapeptide tuftsin. It has been studied mainly against anxiety-related and cognitive endpoints rather than as an approved medicine in most jurisdictions.