intranasal delivery raises a handful of sensible questions. This page answers them in order, starting with the fundamentals and moving to applications.
Reviewed 2026-06-23. Anything still debated is marked as such rather than presented as settled.
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.
Development took place at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where a series of short peptides were designed in the 1980s and 1990s. Selank was selected from variants of tuftsin that showed resistance to plasma peptidases. Russian regulatory approval covers it as an anxiolytic agent given intranasally. Outside that market the compound is normally handled as a research chemical rather than a medicine, and no widely recognised international pharmacopoeial monograph exists. The name Selank is a coined trade designation rather than a systematic chemical name.
Enzymatic stability motivates the extra three residues at the carboxyl end. Native tuftsin is cleaved quickly by circulating aminopeptidases and carboxypeptidases, which limits its duration of action and its usefulness as a tool compound. Extending the chain with proline-rich segments is a common design tactic because proline constrains the backbone and slows proteolysis. The same Pro-Gly-Pro motif appears in other Russian-developed peptides of the era. Whether the full seven-residue chain is required for activity, or whether it acts mainly as a prodrug releasing tuftsin, remains unresolved.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. Its four N-terminal residues reproduce tuftsin, a tetrapeptide fragment of the immunoglobulin heavy chain, while the C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro extension is a synthetic addition. The peptide has a molecular mass near 752 daltons and carries a net positive charge at physiological pH because of the arginine and lysine side chains. Published indexes list it under the name Selank and the sequence abbreviation TKPRPGP. Solid-phase peptide synthesis is the standard production route for research quantities.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Primary route studied | Intranasal | Also examined parenterally in animal work |
| Reported plasma half-life | Minutes to tens of minutes | Values vary widely between reports |
| Main model systems | Rodent behavioural and cell assays | Human trials are few and small |
| Principal proposed targets | GABA-A receptor, GABA transaminase | Monoamine and neurotrophic pathways also reported |
| Evidence grade | Preliminary | Limited independent replication |
Selank is a hydrophilic peptide and dissolves readily in water and in aqueous buffers. The lyophilised powder is typically a white to off-white solid. Because short peptides are prone to hydrolysis and oxidation, handling benefits from limiting exposure to heat, moisture and strong light. Working solutions are commonly prepared in sterile water or saline, and repeated freeze-thaw cycles are avoided to reduce aggregation and loss of activity. These practices reflect general laboratory convention rather than published stability specifications.
Dry powder is normally held at -20 degrees Celsius or lower, in a sealed container with desiccant and protection from light. Reconstituted solutions are usually kept at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for short periods and frozen for longer ones. Proline residues at several positions are generally associated with some resistance to peptidase attack, but chemical stability still declines at neutral to alkaline pH and at elevated temperature. Exact shelf-life figures are product-specific and are not standardised across suppliers.
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 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.
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.
Lyophilised material kept dry at minus 20 degrees Celsius or colder is the most stable form, and suppliers commonly state a shelf life of two years or more under those conditions. Once dissolved, degradation accelerates through hydrolysis and deamidation, particularly at alkaline pH or elevated temperature. Working solutions are usually divided into single-use aliquots to avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles. The choice of reconstitution solvent affects both stability and the ionic strength of the final preparation.
production of the drug(s) or device(s) being evaluated staff salaries for the designers and administrators of the trial payments to the contract research organization, the site management organization (if used) and any outside consultants payments to local researchers and their staff for their time and effort in recruiting test subjects and collecting data for the sponsor the cost of study materials and the charges incurred to ship them communication with the local researchers, including on-site monitoring by the CRO before and (in some cases) multiple times during the study one or more investigator training meetings expense incurred by the local researchers, such as pharmacy fees, IRB fees and postage any payments to subjects enrolled in the trial the expense of treating a test subject who develops a medical condition caused by the study drug These expenses are incurred over several years. In the US, sponsors may receive a 50 percent tax credit for clinical trials conducted on drugs being developed for the treatment of orphan diseases. National health agencies, such as the US National Institutes of Health, offer grants to investigators who design clinical trials that attempt to answer research questions of interest to the agency. In these cases, the investigator who writes the grant and administers the study acts as the sponsor, and coordinates data collection from any other sites. These other sites may or may not be paid for participating in the study, depending on the amount of the grant and the amount of effort expected from them.
This was first done for lysozyme, an enzyme found in tears, saliva and egg whites that digests the coating of some bacteria; the structure was solved by a group led by David Chilton Phillips and published in 1965. This high-resolution structure of lysozyme marked the beginning of the field of structural biology and the effort to understand how enzymes work at an atomic level of detail.
== Erinacine C == Erinacine C has also been observed to activate the transcription factor Nrf2 and has been observed to play a role in neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. Stimulator of NGF synthesis in vitro((299.1 ± 59.6) pg/mL at 1.0 mmol/L)
== History == "During the 17th and 18th centuries, various forms of immunotherapy in cancer became widespread... In the 18th and 19th centuries, septic dressings enclosing ulcerative tumours were used for the treatment of cancer. Surgical wounds were left open to facilitate the development of infection, and purulent sores were created deliberately... One of the most well-known effects of microorganisms on ... cancer was reported in 1891, when an American surgeon, William Coley, inoculated patients having inoperable tumours with [ Streptococcus pyogenes ]." "Coley thoroughly reviewed the literature available at that time and found 38 reports of cancer patients with accidental or iatrogenic feverish erysipelas. In 12 patients, the sarcoma or carcinoma had completely disappeared; the others had substantially improved. Coley decided to attempt the therapeutic use of iatrogenic erysipelas..." "Coley developed a toxin that contained heat-killed bacteria [ Streptococcus pyogenes and Serratia marcescens ]. Until 1963, this treatment was used for the treatment of sarcomas." "Coley injected more than 1000 cancer patients with bacteria or bacterial products." "51.9% of [Coley's] patients with inoperable soft-tissue sarcomas showed complete tumour regression and survived for more than 5 years, and 21.2% of the patients had no clinical evidence of tumour at least 20 years after this treatment..." Research continued in the 20th century under Maria O'Connor Hornung at Tulane Medical School.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Amino acid pKa values == pKa values of amino acid side chains play an important role in defining the pH-dependent characteristics of a protein. The pH-dependence of the activity displayed by enzymes and the pH-dependence of protein stability, for example, are properties that are determined by the pKa values of amino acid side chains. The pKa values of an amino acid side chain in solution is typically inferred from the pKa values of model compounds (compounds that are similar to the side chains of amino acids). See Amino acid for the pKa values of all amino acid side chains inferred in such a way. There are also numerous experimental studies that have yielded such values, for example by use of NMR spectroscopy. The table below lists the model pKa values that are often used in a protein pKa calculation, and contains a third column based on protein studies.
On 14 February, Lula, alongside the Governor of Bahia Jerônimo Rodrigues, the Chief of Staff of the Presidency Rui Costa, the President of the Caixa Econômica Federal Maria Rita Serrano, the transport minister Renan Filho, the Minister of Cities Jader Filho, as well as state and municipal authorities (such as the mayor of the city and federal/state deputies from Bahia), announced the return of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida programme during a visit to the city of Santo Amaro, Bahia; the programme will replace the Bolsonaro government's Casa Verde e Amarela programme (which in turn had replaced Lula's first Minha Casa, Minha Vida, created during his previous presidency), the programme is expected to create over 2 million houses for the low-income population by the end of 2026 (the last year of Lula's presidency). The programme was also restructured, with the proposal to serve families with a monthly income of up to R$8,000 in urban areas, and an annual income of up to R$96,000 in rural areas. In order to reduce the housing deficit, in September 2023, an ordinance was published that exempted beneficiaries of Bolsa Família and the Continuous Installment Benefit from paying installments on properties purchased under the programme.
The first clinical study of vosilasarm, a small (n=22) phase 1 study in women with metastatic breast cancer, was started in 2017 and completed in 2020, with results published in 2019, 2020, and 2022. As of March 2023, vosilasarm is in phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of breast cancer. Aside from its development as a potential pharmaceutical drug, vosilasarm is on the World Anti-Doping Agency list of prohibited substances and is sold for physique- and performance-enhancing purposes by black-market Internet suppliers. Vosilasarm is often used in these contexts at doses that have not been evaluated in clinical trials, with unknown effectiveness and safety. Many products sold online that are purported to be a specific SARM either contain none or contain other unrelated substances. Social media has played an important role in facilitating the widespread non-medical use of SARMs.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Schizophrenia Schizoaffective disorder most commonly in conjunction with either an antidepressant (in the case of the depressive subtype) or a mood stabilizer (in the case of the bipolar subtype). Antipsychotics possess mood stabilizing properties and thus they may be used as standalone medication to treat mood dysregulation. Acute mania and mixed episodes in bipolar disorder may be treated with either typical or atypical antipsychotics, although atypical antipsychotics are usually preferred because they tend to have more favourable adverse effect profiles and, according to a recent meta-analysis, they tend to have a lower liability for causing conversion from mania to depression. Psychotic depression. In this indication it is a common practice for the psychiatrist to prescribe a combination of an atypical antipsychotic and an antidepressant as this practice is best supported by the evidence. Treatment-resistant depression as an adjunct to standard antidepressant therapy. Given the limited options available to treat the behavioral problems associated with dementia, other pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions are usually attempted before using antipsychotics. A risk-to-benefit analysis is performed to weigh the risk of the adverse effects of antipsychotics versus: the potential benefit, the adverse effects of alternative interventions, and the risk of failing to intervene when a patient's behavior becomes unsafe. The same can be said for insomnia, in which they are not recommended as first-line therapy.
Romania is a secular state and has no state religion. An overwhelming majority of the population identify themselves as Christians. At the country's 2021 census, 73.60% of respondents identified as Orthodox Christians, with 73.42% belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Other denominations include Protestantism (6.22%), Roman Catholicism (3.89%), and Greek Catholicism (0.61%). From the remaining population 128,291 people belong to other Christian denominations or have another religion, which includes 58,347 Muslims (mostly of Turkish and Tatar ethnicity) and 2,708 Jewish (Jews once constituted 4% of the Romanian population—728,115 persons in the 1930 census). Additionally, 71,430 people are irreligious, 57,229 are atheist, 25,485 are agnostic, and 2,658,165 people chose to not declare their religion. The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church in full communion with other Orthodox churches, with a Patriarch as its leader. It is the third-largest Eastern Orthodox Church in the world, and unlike other Orthodox churches, it functions within a Latin culture and uses a Romance liturgical language. Its canonical jurisdiction covers the territories of Romania and Moldova. Romania has the world's third-largest Eastern Orthodox population.
August 23: Decree enacting the International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic (signed on May 4, 1910). November 16: Law amending Article 340 of the Civil Code (Judicial recognition of natural paternity). December 23: The administrative boards of public low-income housing offices (Habitations à Bon Marché, HBM) are opened to women. June 17, 1913: Law on postpartum rest for women. August 5, 1914: Law granting allowances to needy families during the war if the breadwinner is conscripted or recalled to military service (France declared general mobilization on August 2 and entered World War I that same month). 1916
==== October 2015 E. coli ==== In October 2015, an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC O26) was linked to several Chipotle locations in Washington and Oregon. As a precaution, Chipotle closed 43 stores in Washington and Oregon pending the results and recommendations of health authorities. The restaurants reopened on November 11 after disposing of all food and deep cleaning the facilities. A separate, smaller outbreak involving five people at Chipotle restaurants in Kansas and Oklahoma in late November was later determined to be caused by a genetically different strain of STEC O26. On February 1, 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) closed their investigation, reporting that 55 persons in 11 states were infected during the main outbreak, with 21 requiring hospitalization and no fatalities. Health authorities were unable to determine a specific source for the contamination.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Reports describe modulation of GABA signalling, changes in monoamine turnover and effects on neurotrophic factor expression. These observations come mainly from animal and cell studies. A single unifying mechanism has not been demonstrated.
The peptide enters plasma rapidly and is broken down by ordinary proteases into amino acids and shorter fragments. Reported half-lives are short. Whether meaningful amounts of the intact molecule reach the brain is an open question.
Most clinical reports are small, published in Russian and not independently replicated. English-language reviews highlight the absence of large randomised trials. Conclusions about efficacy should be treated as provisional.
Selank is a seven-amino-acid peptide built from the tuftsin sequence plus a Pro-Gly-Pro tail. It is produced by chemical synthesis rather than extracted from a natural source. The free peptide is usually supplied as a lyophilised powder or in an aqueous formulation.