This is a working overview of Epithalamin, written for readers who want more than a one-paragraph summary but less than a textbook.
Reviewed 2025-08-25. Anything still debated is marked as such rather than presented as settled.
Laboratory work has examined effects on telomerase activity in cultured cells, on melatonin rhythms in animals, and on markers of oxidative stress. Some experiments report measurable changes while others show none, and the reported findings rest largely on small studies. The absence of large independent trials means the generality of these results is unresolved rather than settled. Review articles occasionally apply the label geroprotector, a term that reflects a research hypothesis about ageing rather than an established clinical finding.
Epitalon is the common name for a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine, usually abbreviated AEDG. All four residues are proteinogenic amino acids, and the free peptide has a calculated mass near 390 grams per mole. Because the chain is short and carries no modifications, it is assembled readily by solid-phase synthesis and is distributed mainly as a freeze-dried solid for laboratory work. Catalogue listings use the spellings epitalon, epithalone, and simply AEDG, and the three refer to the same sequence.
Proposed mechanisms centre on cell-culture observations rather than a defined receptor interaction. Several reports describe increased expression of the telomerase catalytic subunit after exposure of cultured human cells, and the authors attributed the effect to short peptide fragments entering the nucleus and influencing gene transcription. No receptor for the tetrapeptide has been identified, and the free peptide is expected to be degraded rapidly by plasma peptidases. Whether any measurable fraction reaches intact tissues after administration remains an unresolved question rather than an established finding.
The published literature is dominated by a small number of research groups, much of it in Russian-language journals, and independent replication outside those groups is limited. Studies are typically small, use cultured cells or rodent models, and report endpoints that differ between papers, which makes comparison difficult. Large randomised human trials have not appeared in the indexed literature. Questions about absorption, distribution and clearance are therefore still treated as open in reviews that mention the compound.
Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence alanine–glutamate–aspartate–glycine, commonly abbreviated AEDG. Its design traces to epithalamin, a peptide fraction prepared from bovine pineal gland extracts that researchers in Saint Petersburg began investigating in the 1970s. The compound has a molecular formula of C14H22N4O9 and a nominal molecular mass near 390 daltons. It holds no approved drug status in the United States or the European Union, and material sold under this name is generally offered as a research chemical rather than a finished pharmaceutical product.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C14H22N4O9 | Computed for the free acid of Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly |
| Molecular mass | About 390.35 g/mol | Free peptide; salt forms shift the value |
| Appearance | White to off-white solid | Typical of short peptides after freeze-drying |
| Solubility class | Freely soluble in water | Aqueous buffers are also commonly used |
| Common synonyms | Epitalon, epithalone, AEDG | AEDG is the single-letter sequence |
Published evidence comes mainly from Russian-language journals and from a single research group, with small sample sizes and limited independent replication. A few laboratories outside that group have examined related peptides and reported weaker or absent telomerase effects, so the central claim is best described as contested rather than settled. Rodent studies report modest changes in some ageing markers and in survival, but designs vary and control conditions are often sparse. No large randomised trial in humans has been published, and long-term safety data in healthy populations are correspondingly thin.
Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine, commonly abbreviated AEDG. It was designed at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology as a short, chemically defined analogue of epithalamin, a fraction obtained from bovine pineal tissue. Small peptide bioregulators of this type formed a long-running line of work there from the 1980s onward. Because the molecule is produced by solid-phase synthesis rather than extraction, its composition is exact and its purity can be measured directly.
The parent extract epithalamin was characterised as a low-molecular-weight fraction of pineal tissue rather than a single defined chemical entity. Researchers fractionated it and tested successive fragments for activity, a screening approach typical of peptide discovery work in that era. Epitalon emerged from that process as one of the shorter sequences of interest. Because the original extract was never fully resolved into individual components, claims about which constituent drives a given effect rest on inference. This distinction matters when reading older reports that attribute extract observations to the tetrapeptide itself.
Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the residue sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine, commonly abbreviated AEDG. Its monoisotopic mass is approximately 390.35 daltons, and it is usually supplied as a lyophilised trifluoroacetate or acetate salt. The compound was derived from a pineal gland extract called epithalamin, a heterogeneous preparation investigated in the former Soviet Union. Researchers associated with the Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology described the tetrapeptide as a constituent fragment of that extract. Commercial material is offered as a laboratory reagent rather than as a finished pharmaceutical product.
Hess' law of constant heat summation Also simply called Hess' law. A law of physical chemistry which states that the total enthalpy change during the course of a chemical reaction is the same whether the reaction is completed in one step or in multiple steps.
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Svetlana Mojsov is a Yugoslav-born Macedonian American chemist who is a Lulu Chow Wang and Robin Chemers Neustein Research Professor at the Rockefeller University. Her research considers peptide synthesis. She discovered the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and uncovered its role in glucose metabolism and the secretion of insulin. Her breakthroughs were transformed by Novo Nordisk into therapeutic agents against diabetes and obesity.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Legal status == DNP is banned for human consumption in many countries. Because it has some legitimate uses, in many jurisdictions, DNP is legal to sell, but not for human consumption. DNP has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Association since 2015. Petróczi et al. recommend against campaigns informing people of the risks of DNP because it could increase use of the drug. However, Sousa et al. argue that publicity campaigns in the United Kingdom in the early and mid-2010s reduced DNP usage. In 2015, Interpol and the World Anti-Doping Agency released an orange notice warning of the dangers of DNP. In 1941, the Eastman Kodak Company, a bulk distributor of DNP, was investigated after some of its product was found in illegal diet pills. Nicholas Bachynsky, a Texas physician, provided the drug to patients under the name "Mitcal". He was convicted of violating drug laws in 1986, but continued to work with DNP and was additionally convicted of fraud in 2008. In 2018, a seller in the United Kingdom was convicted of manslaughter for selling DNP for human consumption. The conviction was sent to retrial in 2020 by the English Court of Appeal, where the seller was, once again, convicted of gross negligence manslaughter. The UK government reclassified DNP as a regulated poison with effect from October 2023.
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=== Political views and activities === Because of Hodgkin's political activities, and her husband's association with the Communist Party, she was banned from entering the US in 1953 and subsequently not allowed to visit the country except by CIA waiver. In 1961 Thomas became an advisor to Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana, a country he visited for extended periods before Nkrumah's ouster in 1966. Hodgkin was in Ghana with her husband when they received the news that she had been awarded the Nobel Prize. She acquired from her mother, Molly, a concern about social inequalities and a determination to do what she could to prevent armed conflict. Dorothy became particularly concerned about the threat of nuclear war. In 1976, she became president of the Pugwash Conference and served longer than any who preceded or succeeded her in this post. She stepped down in 1988, the year after the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty imposed "a global ban on short- and long-range nuclear weapons systems, as well as an intrusive verification regime". She accepted the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet government in 1987 in recognition of her work for peace and disarmament.
The main criticism Christian Scientists face is that their children are denied equal protection under the law. Sick and disabled children have been told that the only thing wrong with them is "incorrect" thinking, and practitioners have told parents that the parents' thoughts can harm their children. The American Academy of Pediatrics regards failure to seek medical care for children as "child neglect, regardless of the motivation". In the United States, the Christian Science church persuaded local and federal government to pass religious-exemption statutes, using the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The Free Exercise Clause reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...." Many of the exemptions say that in life-threatening situations children must have access to medical care, but without early access the seriousness of an illness may not be recognized, in part because Christian Scientists are discouraged from educating themselves about physical ailments. The first state to add a religion exemption for vaccination was New York in 1966, as a result of lobbying by Christian Scientists. After the conviction for manslaughter in 1967 of the Christian Scientist mother of five-year-old Lisa Sheridan, who died without medical care in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the church lobbied the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to add a religious exemption to the Code of Federal Regulations.
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Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Clinical significance == A deficiency of this protein may be responsible for dermatosparaxis, a genetic defect of connective tissues. Some hereditary forms of lymphedema are caused by mutations in ADAMTS3.
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Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is a four-amino-acid peptide with the sequence alanine-glutamate-aspartate-glycine. The chain is unmodified and contains only standard proteinogenic residues, which makes it straightforward to produce by solid-phase synthesis and to characterise by standard peptide methods.
Epitalon and epithalon both circulate, and the difference reflects transliteration of a name coined in Russian-language publications. Reference to the extract it derives from, epithalamin, explains the shared stem. Databases and suppliers are inconsistent, so a search for one spelling alone may miss relevant entries.
No. Epithalamin is a multi-component preparation obtained from pineal tissue, and its exact composition is not fully characterised. Epitalon is a single defined tetrapeptide described as a short synthetic counterpart of that extract, so the two are related in origin but not interchangeable in identity.
No. Epithalamin is a heterogeneous peptide fraction obtained from pineal gland extract and contains many components. Epitalon is a single synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly. Researchers synthesised the shorter peptide while attempting to identify active sequences within the extract.