Scientific Reference
Epitalon (Epithalon, AEDG)
Evidence profile: Controlled human evidence
Epitalon, also spelled epithalon, is the synthetic tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, modelled on epithalamin, a peptide extract of bovine pineal gland. It came out of a Russian research programme on short regulatory peptides, and nearly all of the published work comes from that programme and its collaborators. The studies include cultured human cells, rodents and fruit flies, together with some human studies reported mostly in Russian-language journals. The topics are ageing biology, telomere maintenance and pineal function. Independent replication outside that group is limited, and the human data are sparse and come almost entirely from the same source.
Mechanism of Action
No receptor for Epitalon has been identified, and most mechanistic proposals come from the same research school. Cell-culture studies from that group have reported induction of telomerase activity and telomere elongation in human somatic cells, which normally express little telomerase. Other papers propose that short peptides of this kind enter the nucleus and bind DNA or histones, altering the expression of particular genes; this idea has not been widely tested elsewhere. Animal studies have examined melatonin secretion by the pineal gland and circadian markers. The overall picture rests on a narrow base of laboratories.
Molecular Information
- Type: Tetrapeptide
- Length: 4 amino acids
- Molecular weight: 390.35 g/mol
- Molecular formula: C14H22N4O9
- CAS: 307297-39-8
Published Research
Pineal-regulating tetrapeptide epitalon improves eye retina condition in retinitis pigmentosa
Khavinson V et al. · Neuro endocrinology letters · 2002 · Clinical
PMID 12195242 — View on PubMed