Everything below concerns Semax. We keep the language plain, cite what the science says, and separate well-supported claims from open questions.
Updated 2025-12-25. Numbers and descriptions here follow the published literature rather than marketing material.
Naming for this compound is not fully standardised in English sources. The spelling Selanc appears in some transliterations, and catalogue entries may instead list the peptide sequence itself as the identifier. Reference material sometimes groups it with other short synthetic peptides studied for behavioural effects, which can create confusion when citations are compared. Distinguishing the exact sequence from related tuftsin analogues is therefore a practical first step when reviewing any dataset or specification sheet.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, frequently abbreviated as TKPRPGP. It was designed as a structural analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring tetrapeptide released by enzymatic cleavage of the immunoglobulin heavy chain. The two additional proline residues at the C-terminal end extend the parent chain and change how the molecule behaves in solution. The free peptide has a calculated molecular mass of approximately 751.9 g/mol and is generally supplied as a lyophilised white to off-white powder.
Development work on the compound began in the 1980s and 1990s at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow, within the same research programme that produced the peptide Semax. Early investigators sought a tuftsin derivative with improved resistance to enzymatic breakdown and with activity in the central nervous system after peripheral administration. Most of the primary literature from this period was published in Russian, a factor that still shapes how easily the findings can be checked by outside groups.
Naming conventions place Selank in the same research family as Semax, another Russian-developed peptide investigated for cognitive effects. The two compounds share a lineage but differ in sequence and in the biological systems proposed as their targets. Semax descends from ACTH fragments, whereas Selank descends from tuftsin. Publications sometimes identify Selank by its full peptide sequence or by laboratory codes rather than one uniform trade name. Because replication outside Russia is limited, reports on its properties are best read alongside the study design and the purity of the material tested.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide developed in Russia during the 1990s. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences designed it as a stabilized analog of tuftsin, a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. The compound has been studied primarily for its reported anxiolytic and nootropic effects. It remains largely unknown in Western pharmacology and is not approved as a medicine by major regulators such as the FDA or the EMA.
The primary structure of Selank is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, corresponding to the molecular formula C33H57N11O9 and a monoisotopic mass of roughly 751.9 daltons. The N-terminal threonine and the arginine residue in the fourth position are shared with tuftsin, which carries the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg. The three additional residues at the C-terminus, Pro-Gly-Pro, extend the chain and are associated with greater resistance to enzymatic degradation. This extension also separates Selank from the shorter parent peptide.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical class | Synthetic heptapeptide | Tuftsin analogue |
| Sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Single-letter form: TKPRPGP |
| Molecular formula | C33H57N11O9 | Calculated for the free peptide |
| Molecular weight | About 751.9 g/mol | Derived from the sequence |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typical lyophilised form |
Solubility behavior is a practical concern for handling. Selank dissolves readily in water and in common aqueous buffers, which simplifies preparation of working solutions. The choice of solvent, ionic strength, and pH can influence aggregation over time, particularly at higher concentrations. Aqueous solutions are typically sterile-filtered before use. Because stability depends on several variables, storage and handling notes should be treated as general guidance rather than fixed rules, and specific values are best confirmed against a certificate of analysis for each batch.
Characterization of Selank in a laboratory setting relies on standard peptide methods. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography separates the target from related impurities and provides a purity figure, commonly reported as 95 percent or higher. Mass spectrometry, typically electrospray ionization or matrix-assisted laser desorption, confirms the molecular mass and helps detect truncation or modification. Amino acid analysis can verify composition when a sequence-level check is needed. These techniques together establish identity and purity for a given lot.
Lyophilized Selank, the dry powder form, is generally stored frozen at minus 20 degrees Celsius or colder for long-term keeping. The solid is hygroscopic and should stay sealed, dry, and protected from light. Once dissolved, the peptide is less stable and is usually held refrigerated at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for short periods. Repeated freezing and thawing is avoided because it can promote aggregation and loss of activity. Buffers and pH choice also affect how long a solution remains usable.
Measuring peptide exposure inside the brain is technically difficult. Selank is degraded rapidly in plasma, and assays must separate intact peptide from fragments, which favors targeted mass spectrometry over immunoassays alone. Reported half-lives are short, on the order of minutes, so effects observed hours later are attributed to downstream signaling rather than to the parent compound. Blood-brain barrier permeability is debated and rarely quantified directly. Gaps include absent dose-response characterization, inconsistent reporting of purity, and almost no pharmacokinetic data from human participants.
Selank is studied chiefly as an animal-model anxiolytic with proposed secondary effects on memory and immune signaling. Reported mechanisms include modulation of the GABA-A receptor complex, inhibition of enkephalin-degrading enzymes, and shifts in monoamine turnover within limbic structures. Some experiments describe increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the hippocampus after repeated dosing. No single molecular target has been confirmed, and the peptide does not bind any receptor with the selectivity typical of a conventional small-molecule drug. Mechanism therefore remains a set of hypotheses rather than an established pathway.
Laboratory work relies on standard behavioral paradigms. Rodents are tested in the elevated plus maze, open field, and passive avoidance tasks, with outcomes compared against diazepam or vehicle controls. Intranasal dosing is used most often because it bypasses first-pass metabolism, though intraperitoneal and intravenous routes also appear in published protocols. Biochemical endpoints include tissue BDNF concentrations, cytokine levels, and monoamine metabolites. Human data are limited to small Russian trials reporting reduced anxiety scores; most were not prospectively registered, and few employed independent outcome assessment.
Identity and purity are usually assessed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, with mass spectrometry used to confirm molecular mass and sequence information. Amino acid analysis and peptide mapping may supplement these methods. Certified reference standards are scarce, and many commercial lots are sold as research chemicals without a pharmacopoeial monograph. Regulatory treatment differs by country: Selank is a registered prescription medicine in Russia, while in the European Union and the United States it is not an approved drug and may fall under research-chemical or unapproved-product frameworks.
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.
Pharmacokinetic data are limited. Like most short peptides, Selank is vulnerable to plasma and tissue peptidases, and its measured half-life in circulation is short, on a minutes scale. The Pro-Gly-Pro tail slows this degradation but does not eliminate it. Intranasal administration is the route described in most reports, with absorption through the nasal mucosa and a hypothesized path into the central nervous system that avoids the blood-brain barrier. Direct measurements of human brain exposure are unavailable, so distribution claims rest on inference from animal work.
Clinical evidence comes mainly from small studies conducted in Russia, several of which were open-label or lacked robust blinding. Reported outcomes include lower anxiety scores, changes in attention measures, and effects on asthenic states following illness. Sample sizes are typically in the tens of participants, and independent replication outside the region is scarce. Reviews published in English generally note the limited methodological quality of the underlying trials. Whether the compound produces clinically meaningful effects under rigorous conditions remains unresolved.
Proposed mechanisms center on modulation of the GABA system, but no single molecular target has been confirmed. Rodent studies report changes in GABA-A receptor expression and in the turnover of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in several brain regions. Increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor have also been described after repeated administration. These findings come largely from animal models, and the degree to which they describe human neurochemistry remains an open question. The mechanism is best characterized as multi-system and not fully resolved.
The absence of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 are responsible for many bodily functions at the genetic and cellular level and an absence of these thyroid hormones as seen in myxedema coma has very serious consequences including a broad spectrum of symptoms and a high mortality rate.
=== Losses === The bank's deposits increased from $62 billion in March 2020 to $124 billion in March 2021, benefiting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science and technology. Most of these deposits were invested in long-term Treasury bonds as the bank sought a higher return on investment than was available on shorter-term bonds. These long-term bonds fell in current market value as interest rates rose during the 2021–2023 inflation surge and they became less attractive as investments relative to newer bond issues. In April 2022, SVB's chief risk officer stepped down, and a successor was not named until January 2023—a period coinciding with the period of interest rate increases. At the end of 2022, the bank had a $117 billion bond portfolio, divided into a $91.3 billion held-to-maturity portfolio (meaning it was not marked to market and profits or losses would not be realized until maturity) and a $26 billion available-for-sale portfolio (which as the name implies was marked to market). At that point in time, its marked-to-market unrealized losses for securities held to maturity exceeded $15 billion. The bank did not hedge against interest rate risk on that part of its bond portfolio, apparently for the same reason that most banks do not: the hedge itself would bounce around with the market, while the point of holding bonds to maturity is to hold them at par. Most banks minimize interest rate risk in their held-to-maturity portfolios by buying shorter-term bonds.
The brown bear has a hump between its shoulders, a distinction from other bear species. This hump is formed by large muscles, allowing for a wide range of motion, which the bear mainly uses to put pressure on the soil as it digs for food. The bison also has a hump between its shoulders, made almost entirely of muscle and supported by long skeletal spines. The bison hump's purpose is to hold up the animal's large head, and also enables the animal to use its head as a snow shovel in the winter, swinging it side to side with its hump muscles. Such foraging behavior sets the bison apart from other ungulates, which typically use their feet to scrape away snow. Moose, similarly, have a shoulder hump of muscle that is necessary to hold up their large head and, in males, antlers.
=== Phase 3 === Botulinum toxin A (AboBoNT-A; AbobotulinumtoxinA; Alluzience; Azzalure; BoNT-A; BTX-A; Dysport; Reloxin) – acetylcholine release inhibitor and neuromuscular blocking agent – migraine [1] Botulinum toxin A (Bocouture; Incobotulinum toxin A; NT-201; Vibe/Xeomin; ViXe; Xeomeen; Xeomin; Zeomaine) – acetylcholine release inhibitor and neuromuscular blocking agent – migraine [2] Eptinezumab (ALD-403; Lu-AG09221; Vyepti) – monoclonal antibody against calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) – cluster headache [3] Naproxen/rizatriptan (rizatriptan/naproxen) – combination of naproxen (COX inhibitor/NSAID) and rizatriptan (triptan) – migraine [4] Promethazine/sumatriptan (CL-H1T) – combination of promethazine (anthistamine, anticholinergic, other actions) and sumatriptan (triptan) – migraine [5]
Official website (in Italian) Tourism webpage How to reach Turin? Turin Museums Turin City Card This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Benigni, Umberto (1912). "Turin". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. Turin travel guide from Wikivoyage
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== External links == XB1: The First Conference on Xenobiology Archived 2019-04-03 at the Wayback Machine May 6–8, 2014. Genoa, Italy. XB2: The Second Conference on Xenobiology May 24–26, 2016. Berlin, Germany.
=== Diagnostic tests === Once monoclonal antibodies for a given substance have been produced, they can be used to detect the presence of this substance. Proteins can be detected using the Western blot and immuno dot blot tests. In immunohistochemistry, monoclonal antibodies can be used to detect antigens in fixed tissue sections, and similarly, immunofluorescence can be used to detect a substance in either frozen tissue section or live cells.
Stephen Dank (born c. 1963) is an Australian biochemist who worked as a sports scientist at several professional sports club. He is known for his key role in two major sports drug cheating scandals, the Essendon Football Club supplements saga and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks supplements saga, where he injected players with illegal substances to improve their performance. He is known for his unorthodox treatment and diagnostic methods, including using calf blood and profiling players' DNA. Des Hasler described Dank as 'a great analytical thinker', in particular highlighting his contributions in the area of GPS application, statistical science, and altitude simulation training. In light of his unorthodox treatment methods, in November 2016 Dank was given a life-long ban from association with the Australian Football League. On 28 November 2016, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA), (known as Sport Integrity Australia since July 1 2020), officially acknowledged the decision of the AFL Appeal Board He worked with National Rugby League clubs the Manly Sea Eagles and Cronulla Sharks and Australian rules football clubs, Essendon Football Club and the Gold Coast Suns.
In recent years, the federal government conducted purges and prosecutions of police forces in Nuevo Laredo, Michoacán, Baja California, and Mexico City. The anti-cartel operations begun by President Calderón in December 2006 include ballistic checks of police weapons in places where there is concern that police are also working for the cartels. In June 2007, President Calderón purged 284 federal police commanders from all 31 states and the Federal District. Under the 'Cleanup Operation' performed in 2008, several agents and high-ranking officials have been arrested and charged with selling information or protection to drug cartels; some high-profile arrests were: Victor Gerardo Garay Cadena, (chief of the Federal Police), Noé Ramírez Mandujano (ex-chief of the Organized Crime Division (SEIDO)), José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos (ex-chief of SEIDO), and Ricardo Gutiérrez Vargas who is the ex-director of Mexico's Interpol office. In January 2009, Rodolfo de la Guardia García, ex-director of Mexico's Interpol office, was arrested. Julio César Godoy Toscano, who was elected in July 2009 to the lower house of Congress, was charged with being a top-ranking member of La Familia Michoacana. He is now a fugitive. In May 2010, an NPR report collected allegations from dozens of sources, including U.S. and Mexican media, Mexican police officials, politicians, academics, and others, that Sinaloa Cartel had infiltrated and corrupted the Mexican federal government and the Mexican military by bribery and other means.
== Discovery == The discovery of a natriuretic factor (one that promotes kidney excretion of salt and water) was first reported by Adolfo José de Bold in 1981 when rat atrial extracts were found to contain a substance that increased salt and urine output in the kidney. Later, the substance was purified from heart tissue by several groups and named atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) or ANP.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
The sequence is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, commonly written as TKPRPGP. It shares the first four residues with tuftsin and carries three prolines in the chain. The proline-rich tail is the main structural feature that separates it from the parent tetrapeptide.
Selank is a synthetic analogue built on the tuftsin tetrapeptide Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg. Extra proline residues were added to the C-terminus during design work. That modification is intended to make the peptide less vulnerable to rapid enzymatic degradation.
Transliteration from Russian produces variant spellings such as Selanc. Many suppliers avoid the trade-style name entirely and list the peptide sequence. Comparing sequences rather than names is the reliable way to confirm two entries describe the same molecule.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide designed as a stabilized analog of the natural tetrapeptide tuftsin. It has been investigated mainly for anxiolytic and cognitive effects. It is not an approved pharmaceutical in most countries.