Intranasal route comes up often in conversation and rarely with the context attached. Here we lay out the basics in order, then work through the practical considerations.
Last reviewed on 2026-03-20. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
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.
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.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Lyophilised solid form |
| Solubility class | Freely soluble in water | Hydrophilic heptapeptide |
| Dry storage temperature | -20 degrees Celsius or lower | Sealed, desiccated, protected from light |
| Solution storage | 2 to 8 degrees Celsius short term | Avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles |
| Common identification method | Reversed-phase HPLC with mass spectrometry | Confirms purity and molecular mass |
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.
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.
=== Parenteral === The term parenteral is from para-1 'beside' + Greek enteron 'intestine' + -al. This name is due to the fact that it encompasses a route of administration that is not intestinal. However, in common English the term has mostly been used to describe the four most well-known routes of injection.
== Pharmacology == In tests with rabbits, a significant improvement in protection against arrhythmic effects and infarct size reduction was observed after administrating exogenously SRTX-c (in dosage of 0.24 nmol/kg, i.v.) prior the coronary occlusion accident. That was achieved thanks to the ability of SRTX-c to activate selected ETB receptors. In rat thoracic aorta, the contractile activity is grouped as follows: ET-1 > SRTX-b > SRTX-a > SRTX-c at lower concentrations, but SRTX-b > ET-1 > SRTX-a > SRTX-c at higher concentrations. Intra-arterial injections of SRTX-b cause a dose-dependent increase in perfusion pressure at doses ranging from 30 to 300 pmol. The vasoconstrictor activity of SRTX-b is less remarkable than that of ET-1 at doses lower than 100 pmol, while at a dose of 300 pmol the activity of SRTX-b is greater than that of ET-1. The time required for the recovery of perfusion pressure to baselines after a bolus injection of 300 pmol SRTX-b is shorter than that of ET-1. The threshold vasoconstrictor dose of SRTX-a is 3 times larger than that of SRTX-b. At a dose of 300 pmol, the rise in perfusion pressure due to SRTX-a is about 8 times smaller than that of SRTX-b. SRTX-c exhibits a feeble vasoconstriction producing a very small increase in perfusion pressure.
=== Detection in urine === Researchers found that humans who smoked 580 μg of the pure drug had urine salvinorin A concentrations of 2.4–10.9 μg/L during the first hour; the levels fell below the detection limit by 1.5 hours after smoking.
== Pharmacokinetics == Tigecycline is metabolized through glucuronidation into glucuronide conjugates and a N-acetyl-9-aminominocycline metabolite. Therefore, dose adjustments are needed for patients with severe hepatic impairment. More so, it is primarily eliminated unchanged in the feces and secondarily eliminated by the kidneys. No renal adjustments are necessary.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Function == Unlike other members in the MIA gene family, MIA3 is broadly expressed, except in the cells belonging to the hematopoietic system. High levels of MIA3 expression are observed both in embryonic and adult tissues. MIA3 resides at the ER exit site and functions as a guide for loading the cargo molecule collagen VII into COPII carriers, which mediates the exit of secretory protein out of the ER with the help of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma–associated antigen 5 (cTAGE-5). A recent study indicates that MIA3 is also involved in the secretion of other collagens, including collagens I, II, III, IV, and IX, from chondrocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and mural cells, indicating its participation in chondrocyte maturation and bone mineralization. MIA3 has been suggested as a tumor suppressor in melanoma, colorectal cancer, and hepatoma, and induction of expression of MIA3 results in a significant decrease in motility and invasive potential. On the other hand, it has also been found that MIA3 promotes angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis by upregulating platelet-derived growth factor beta (PDGF-b) polypeptide and neuropolin 2 in oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Ribose is an aldopentose (a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms that, in its open chain form, has an aldehyde functional group at one end). In the conventional numbering scheme for monosaccharides, the carbon atoms are numbered from C1' (in the aldehyde group) to C5'. The deoxyribose derivative found in DNA differs from ribose by having a hydrogen atom in place of the hydroxyl group at C2'. This hydroxyl group performs a function in RNA splicing.
=== Transmission === Smallpox was highly contagious, but generally spread more slowly and less widely than some other viral diseases, perhaps because transmission required close contact and occurred after the onset of the rash. The overall rate of infection was also affected by the short duration of the infectious stage. In temperate areas, the number of smallpox infections was highest during the winter and spring. In tropical areas, seasonal variation was less evident and the disease was present throughout the year. Age distribution of smallpox infections depended on acquired immunity. Vaccination immunity declined over time and was probably lost within thirty years. Smallpox was not known to be transmitted by insects or animals and there was no asymptomatic carrier state. Transmission occurred through inhalation of airborne variola virus, usually droplets expressed from the oral, nasal, or pharyngeal mucosa of an infected person. It was transmitted from one person to another primarily through prolonged face-to-face contact with an infected person. Some infections of laundry workers with smallpox after handling contaminated bedding suggested that smallpox could be spread through direct contact with contaminated objects (fomites), but this was found to be rare. Also rarely, smallpox was spread by virus carried in the air in enclosed settings such as buildings, buses, and trains. The virus can cross the placenta, but the incidence of congenital smallpox was relatively low.
In response to declining sales, in 2017 the company launched a fast casual spinoff of its format called "Hoots". Hoots is distinguished from its original concept primarily by a reduction in menu items and employment of both male and female servers who are modestly dressed in t-shirts and khakis.
1-Docosanol Alcohols: Ethanol Isopropyl alcohol n-propanol Benzalkonium chlorides, e.g., Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides (C12-16) Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (C14 60%, C16 30%, C12 5%, C18 5%) Alkyl dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride (C12-14) Alkyl dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chlorides (C12-18) Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite) Sodium hypochlorite washes Didecyldimethylammonium chloride Hand washing (see also Surfactants) Hand washing is a mechanical process of removing germs and viruses, and chemicals. Hand washing with, e.g., ethanol added to a hand disinfectant shows virucidal effects, but caution is given (small children) and it is not recommended over "proper hand washing". Hand gels are often found to not comply with EN 1500 standards to meet antimicrobial efficacy. Prof. Graham Ayliffe's hand-cleaning and disinfection technique is promoted nowadays by the WHO and is similar to German standard DIN EN 1500 (hygienic hand disinfection). Hydrogen peroxide Oral rinse (see Cochrane systematic review in case of SARS-CoV-2) Chlorhexidine (CHX) - mainly against enveloped viruses. Dequalinium Povidone-iodine (Isodine, PVP-I), High potency for virucidal activity has been observed against viruses of significant global concern, including hepatitis A and influenza, as well as the Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome and Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronaviruses. Application types and names: Isodine, Scrub, Isodine Nodo Fresh Surfactants Soap Triton X-100
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Dry powder is normally held at -20 degrees Celsius or below in a sealed, light-protected container with desiccant. Brief room-temperature handling during weighing is generally tolerated. Storage instructions vary between suppliers, so the accompanying certificate of analysis should be followed.
Reversed-phase HPLC establishes purity, while mass spectrometry confirms the expected molecular mass. Sequence confirmation may use tandem mass spectrometry or peptide mapping. A certificate of analysis typically reports these results alongside the analytical method applied.
In Russia it is a registered medicine available by prescription. In many other countries it is not approved for human use and is supplied only as a research chemical. Import and possession rules differ by jurisdiction, and buyers are responsible for checking local requirements.
The sequence is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, written TKPRPGP in one-letter code. It combines the tetrapeptide tuftsin with a carboxyl-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro extension. This full sequence identifies the molecule more precisely than the research name.