A practical reference on Selank: what it is, how it behaves, what the literature reports, and where the honest uncertainties sit.
Reviewed 2025-12-23. Anything still debated is marked as such rather than presented as settled.
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.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide developed in Russia as a structural analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. Its sequence, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, keeps the tuftsin core at the N-terminus and appends a Pro-Gly-Pro tail. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow synthesized the compound during the 1990s while searching for peptides with combined anxiolytic and immunomodulatory activity. The added tail was intended to resist enzymatic cleavage and prolong the molecule's presence in circulation.
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.
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.
| 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 |
Regulatory treatment varies by jurisdiction. In Russia the compound is a registered prescription product, while in the European Union and the United States it is generally handled as a research chemical without a marketing authorization. Suppliers therefore operate outside pharmaceutical oversight, and buyers rely on supplier documentation for purity and identity claims. Chain of custody and third-party testing are the main verification tools. Analysts note that the absence of a pharmacopoeial monograph for research-grade material limits standardization across vendors.
Purity assessment relies mainly on reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. Because the peptide lacks a strong chromophore, detection often uses backbone absorbance near 214 nm. Identity is confirmed by mass spectrometry, typically electrospray ionization or matrix-assisted laser desorption, comparing the measured mass against the expected value. Amino acid analysis can verify composition after acid hydrolysis. Diastereomer content and residual counterions are reported less often, although both can influence biological assays.
Lyophilized material is generally stable for extended periods when kept dry at or below minus twenty degrees Celsius. Working solutions are less stable, and common practice is to aliquot and freeze them so that repeated freeze-thaw cycles are avoided. Aqueous solutions are sensitive to pH extremes and to microbial growth, so short-term storage at refrigerator temperature is typical. Oxidation and hydrolysis are the principal degradation routes. Reconstitution with sterile water or a mild buffer is standard, and solutions should be protected from light.
The compound was designed at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences during the 1980s and 1990s. The stated design goal was to retain the immunomodulatory and central nervous system activity attributed to tuftsin while improving resistance to enzymatic breakdown. Adding a proline-rich tail to the short parent peptide was a deliberate strategy, because proline residues restrict the conformations available to many peptidases. The same laboratory produced Semax, an ACTH fragment analog, and both compounds were developed in parallel as short, enzymatically stabilized peptides intended for intranasal use.
Selank is not a naturally occurring peptide and has no known endogenous counterpart in human physiology. Russian-language sources frequently call it TP-7, while English-language sources use the name Selank almost exclusively. Database indexing is uneven, partly because early reports appeared in regional journals that are not widely cataloged. Some summaries describe the material as a tuftsin analog and others as a synthetic heptapeptide; the labels overlap rather than conflict. Citing the primary sequence resolves ambiguity more reliably than the research or trade name alone.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, written TKPRPGP in one-letter notation. Its structure consists of the immunomodulatory tetrapeptide tuftsin, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg, extended at the carboxyl terminus by a Pro-Gly-Pro segment. The molecular formula is commonly given as C33H57N11O9, corresponding to a monoisotopic mass near 751.4 Da and an average molecular mass near 751.9 Da. All seven residues are proteinogenic amino acids, and the molecule carries no modified side chains or non-natural linkages.
Quick fixes have included applying chewed tobacco from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Making cuts around the puncture or sucking out the venom had been thought helpful in the past, but this course of treatment is now strongly discouraged, due to the risk of self-envenomation through knife cuts or cuts in the mouth (suction cups from snake bite kits can be used, but suctioning seldom provides any measurable benefit).
Neurotoxins, which primarily affect the nervous systems of animals, such as ion channel toxins. These are found in many venomous taxa, including mambas, black widow spiders, scorpions, box jellyfish, cone snails, centipedes and blue-ringed octopuses. Myotoxins, which damage muscles by binding to a receptor. These small, basic peptides are found in snake (such as rattlesnake) and lizard venoms. Cytotoxins, which kill individual cells and are found in the apitoxin of honey bees and the venom of black widow spiders. A subclass of cytotoxins is the necrotoxins, which cause necrosis (i.e., death) in the cells and tissues they encounter. The complex venoms of vipers and bees contain phospholipases; viper venoms often also contain trypsin-like serine proteases.
== History == Efficacy was evaluated in ARROS-1 (NCT05118789), a multi-center, single-arm, open-label, multi-cohort trial in participants with previously treated locally advanced or metastatic ROS1-positive NSCLC. The efficacy population included 117 participants; 59 who received one prior ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor and 58 who received two or more prior ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including lorlatinib, repotrectinib, and/or taletrectinib.
==== Alarcón-Segovia criteria ==== The Alarcón-Segovia criteria require serological criteria and at least three clinical criteria, including either synovitis or myositis to qualify for a diagnosis of MCTD. It has a sensitivity of 62.5% and a specificity of 86.2%. Serological criteria:
Cannabinol (CBN) is a mildly psychoactive cannabinoid acting as a low-affinity partial agonist at CB1 and CB2 receptors. CBN interacts with other neurotransmitter systems (e.g., dopaminergic, serotonergic), requiring higher doses for physiologic effects like mild sedation compared to THC. Isolated in the late 1800s, its structure was elucidated in the 1930s, and chemical synthesis was achieved by 1940. Recent studies indicate that CBN exhibits antiproliferative effects against glioma, liver, and breast cancer cell lines by triggering cell cycle arrest at G1 or S-Phase. In estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer models, CBN was found to be the most effective in suppressing the new synthesis of aromatase, the enzyme responsible for estrogen production that fuels tumor growth, when compared to THC and CBD.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Extraction == After finishing the digestion the peptides generated in this process have to be extracted from the gel matrix. This is accomplished by one or several extraction steps. The gel particles are incubated with an extraction solution and the supernatant is collected. In the first extraction, almost all of the peptide is recovered, the repetition of the extraction step can increase the yield of the whole process by only 5-10%. To meet the requirements of peptides with different physical and chemical properties an iterative extraction with basic or acidic solutions is performed. For the extraction of acidic peptides a solution similar to the concentration and composition of the digestion buffer is used; basic peptides are extracted in dependence to the intended mass spectrometric method with a low concentrated acidic solution of formic acid for ESI and trifluoroacetic acid for MALDI respectively. Studies on model proteins showed a recovery of approximately 70–80% of the expected peptide yield by extraction from the gel. Many protocols contain an additional fraction of acetonitrile to the extraction solution which, in concentrations above 30% (v/v), is effective in reducing the adsorption of peptides to the surface of reaction tubes and pipette tips. The liquid of the pooled extracts is evaporated in a centrifugal evaporator. If the volatile salt ammonium bicarbonate was used for the basic extraction, it is partially removed in the drying process. The dried peptides can be stored at -20 °C for at least six months.
DisplayPort Dual-Mode (DP++), also called Dual-Mode DisplayPort, is a standard which allows DisplayPort sources to use simple level-shifting adapters to connect to HDMI or DVI displays. Dual-mode is an optional feature, so not all DisplayPort sources necessarily support sending DVI/HDMI signals, though in practice nearly all devices do. Officially, the "DP++" logo should be used to indicate a DP port that supports dual-mode, but most modern devices do not use the logo. Devices which implement dual-mode will detect that a DVI or HDMI adapter is attached, and send DVI/HDMI TMDS signals instead of DisplayPort signals. The original DisplayPort Dual-Mode standard (version 1.0), used in DisplayPort 1.1 devices, only supported TMDS clock speeds of up to 165 MHz (4.95 Gbit/s bandwidth). This is equivalent to HDMI 1.2, and is sufficient for up to 1920 × 1200 at 60 Hz. In 2013, VESA released the Dual-Mode 1.1 standard, which added support for up to a 300 MHz TMDS clock (9.00 Gbit/s bandwidth), and is used in newer DisplayPort 1.2 devices. This is slightly less than the 340 MHz maximum of HDMI 1.4, and is sufficient for up to 1920 × 1080 at 120 Hz, 2560 × 1440 at 60 Hz, or 3840 × 2160 at 30 Hz. Older adapters, which were only capable of the 165 MHz speed, were retroactively termed "Type 1" adapters, with the new 300 MHz adapters being called "Type 2".
=== Clinical diagnostics === Chilkoti has made contributions to biosensors and clinical diagnostics. His group was the first to demonstrate the use of surface-initiated polymerization to synthesize "nonfouling" polymer brushes from diverse surfaces that completely resist the adsorption of proteins and the adhesion of cells. He then used these nonfouling polymer brushes to develop a protein microarray that enables multiplexed detection of protein analytes with a femtomolar limit-of-detection directly from whole blood. Building upon this work, his group then invented the D4 point-of-care testing (POCT) technology, which enables rapid and accurate disease diagnosis by the quantitative measurement of multiple analytes at sub-picomolar concentrations from a drop of blood without user intervention. This technology led to the formation of a startup company —Sentilus—‚ that was acquired by Immucor in 2014. His group later used the D4 POCT for serology for COVID-19, COVID-19 variant detection, and detection of Ebolavirus.
== Technology applications == In its earliest form, liquid chromatography was used to separate the pigments of chlorophyll by a Russian botanist. Decades later, other chemists used the procedure for the study of carotins. Liquid chromatography was then used for the isolation of small molecules and organic compounds like amino acids, and most recently has been used in peptide and DNA research. Monolith columns have been instrumental in advancing the field of biomolecular research. In recent trade shows and international meetings for HPLC, interest in column monoliths and biomolecular applications has grown steadily, and this correlation is no coincidence. Monoliths have been shown to possess great potential in the “omics” fields- genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and pharmacogenomics, among others. The reductionist approach to understanding the chemical pathways of the body and reactions to different stimuli, like drugs, are essential to new waves of healthcare like personalized medicine. Pharmacogenomics studies how responses to pharmaceutical products differ in efficacy and toxicity based on variations in the patient's genome; it is a correlation of drug response to gene expression in a patient. Jeremy K. Nicholson of the Imperial College, London, used a postgenomic viewpoint to understand adverse drug reactions and the molecular basis of human disesase. His group studied gut microbial metabolic profiles and were able to see distinct differences in reactions to drug toxicity and metabolism even among various geographical distributions of the same race.
== Research == In his research, White focused on membrane protein folding and stability, energetics of protein-bilayer interactions, experimentally determined hydrophobicity scales, translocon-assisted folding of membrane proteins, structure of fluid lipid bilayers, and MD simulations of lipid bilayers. His experimental expertise included X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, molecular dynamics simulations, calorimetry, physical chemistry, surface chemistry, statistical analysis of protein sequences, electrical impedance methods, planar bilayer methodology, peptide chemistry, and lipid chemistry. White’s lab determined the first fully resolved structure of a fluid lipid bilayer by combining x-ray and neutron diffraction data, and subsequently validated molecular dynamics simulations of fluid bilayers. White wrote a critical review of the principles of membrane folding and stability in 1999 that is among the ten most cited articles in Annual Review of Biophysics. Using a thermodynamic framework, he highlighted three main aspects of membrane protein folding energetics: protein binding and folding in bilayer interfaces, transmembrane helix insertion, and helix-helix interactions. In his paper “Mechanisms of Integral Membrane Protein Insertion and Folding” written in collaboration with Gunnar von Heijne, he evaluated the progress made during the past decade toward understanding translocon-assisted folding of membrane proteins and reviewed the role of basic thermodynamic principles in MP folding and assembly.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
An interesting remaining piece of Nazi architecture can be found in the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport which closed all airport operations in 2008. The main terminal was designed and built during the late 1930s and early 1940s according to a design by Ernst Sagebiel following the ideas of Speer and Hitler including that of ruin value. It was designed to be the main hub for Hitler's redesigned Berlin, to be called Germania. When completed, it was the world's largest building and today, should the building fall into disrepair, Speer and Hitler's ruin value theory may be demonstrated.
Because reporter genes such as lacZ, GFP, and luciferase are widely used in standardized plasmid constructs for gene expression studies, well-characterized reporter vectors are preserved as reference materials in public biological resource centres and non-profit repositories such as BCCM/GeneCorner and Addgene, supporting reproducibility in molecular biology research.
== Biomolecular condensates in plants == Biomolecular condensates can play other roles in plants besides the compartmentalization of biochemical processes. They can integrate environmental cues and modulate plant development in response, influencing processes like floral transition. They achieve this by sequestering interacting components, enhancing dwell time, and interacting with cytoplasmic properties in response to environmental changes. They have shown to be involved also in autophagy, RNA silencing, and plant immunity. NAtural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) are mixtures of natural compounds such as amino acids, sugars, choline, and organic acids that can solubilize high amounts of natural products. NADES are hypothesized to be the third liquid phase in plants, due to their presence in plant cells together with their ability to improve and stabilise enzymatic reactions, as well as enhance extraction and dissolution of natural products. They are speculated to facilitate the formation of phase-separated inclusions, aiding in the storage and transport of specific metabolites such as anthocyanins, dhurrin, and vanillin.
=== Notable applications === With the development of native chemical ligation in 1994, total chemical synthesis of pairs of D-protein and L-protein enantiomers became feasible. In the first practical application to solving an unknown structure, racemic and quasi-racemic X-ray crystallography were used to determine the structure of snow flea anti-freeze protein. In the course of that work it was observed that racemic and even quasi-racemic protein mixtures dramatically facilitated the formation of diffraction quality, centrosymmetric crystals. Quasi-racemates are formed by mirror image protein molecules that are not true enantiomers but which are sufficiently similar mirror image objects to form ordered pseudo-centrosymmetric arrays. Subsequently, pairs of racemic and quasi-racemic protein molecules prepared by total chemical synthesis have been shown to dramatically increase the rate of success in forming diffraction-quality crystals from a wide range of globular protein molecules. Rv1738, a protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the most up-regulated gene product when M. tb enters persistent dormancy. Preparations of recombinantly expressed Rv1738 L-protein resisted extensive attempts to form crystals. A racemic mixture of the chemically synthesized D-protein and L-protein forms of Rv1738 gave crystals in the centrosymmetric space group C2/c. The structure, containing L-protein and D-protein dimers in a centrosymmetric space group, revealed structural similarity to 'hibernation-promoting factors' that can bind to ribosomes and suppress translation.
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.
Intranasal administration predominates in both animal and human research because it avoids hepatic first-pass metabolism. Injectable and intraperitoneal routes appear in animal work mainly for comparison.