Everything below concerns anxiolytic. We keep the language plain, cite what the science says, and separate well-supported claims from open questions.
Last reviewed on 2025-08-22. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
| 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 |
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide developed in Russia. Its sequence is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, a seven-residue chain built around the natural tetrapeptide tuftsin. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences first described the compound in the mid-1990s. The design combined the tuftsin core with an added Pro-Gly-Pro tail, a modification intended to extend the molecule's stability in biological fluids. Published work on the peptide has appeared mainly in Russian-language journals.
Reported activity for Selank centers on anxiolytic and nootropic effects. Russian clinical reports describe use in anxiety and in cognitive or attention-related complaints. Most of this evidence comes from studies conducted by the same research groups that developed the peptide. Independent replication in other countries remains limited, and no major Western regulatory agency has approved the compound for any indication. The gap between local reports and external verification is a recurring point in discussions of the peptide.
Tuftsin, the parent structure, is a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide released from the Fc region of immunoglobulin G by spleen enzymes. Selank extends this four-residue sequence with three additional amino acids. The stated rationale is that the added tail slows enzymatic breakdown and may influence receptor interactions. How the full heptapeptide behaves at the molecular level is not firmly established, and proposed mechanisms often involve indirect modulation of neurotransmitter or immune signaling rather than a single defined target.
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.
Lyophilized selank is normally supplied as a dry powder and is considered stable for extended periods when kept cold and dry. Moisture uptake is the main practical threat, because absorbed water promotes both hydrolysis and aggregation in the solid state. Vials are usually warmed to room temperature before opening so that condensation does not form on the powder. Supplier documentation commonly specifies -20 °C for routine storage, with -80 °C used for material intended to be archived for years.
Once dissolved, the peptide is markedly less stable than the dry powder. Aqueous solutions are subject to backbone hydrolysis and to microbial growth when they are handled without sterile technique. Buffered solutions near neutral pH are common for short-term laboratory work, while acidic conditions are sometimes used to improve solubility. Analytical laboratories generally prepare working solutions fresh rather than storing them, and a residual water film left in a reopened vial can seed degradation even when the container appears dry.
His dialogue sounds composed entirely of sentences memorized from tourist phrase books." Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "All of the film's purposeful weirdness is conveyed with an unaffected simplicity that recalls the dead-aim haphazard compositions of photographer William Eggleston", concluding that, "as a film, it's pure and singular, but it's not quite fully formed enough to be what one could call truly visionary." A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that the film "at times seems as much an exercise in perversity as an examination of it", and that "The static wide-screen compositions are beautiful and strange, with the heads and limbs of the characters frequently cropped. The light is gauzy and diffuse, helping to produce an atmosphere that is insistently and not always unpleasantly dreamlike. You might think of paintings by Balthus or maybe Alex Katz, though the implied stories in those pictures are more genuinely evocative and haunting than the actual narrative of Dogtooth." Several reviewers, such as Harkness and Bradshaw, made comparisons to the 2008 Fritzl case, although they noted that the screenplay was written before the case emerged. Scott, like Ebert, made references to homeschooling. The film's larger meaning eluded easy expression. Scott called the film "a conversation piece. Though the conversation may... be more along the lines of: 'What was that?' 'I don't know. Weird.' 'Yeah.' [shudder].
Halliwell was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2010 by the President of Singapore for contributions to Singapore and awarded the President's Science and Technology Medal (2013) by the President of Singapore "for distinguished sustained and exceptional contributions to Singapore's Science and Engineering landscape". Halliwell was conferred the Outstanding Service Award at the NUS University Awards on 8 September 2023. In 2008, Halliwell was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine in the US for overall sustained excellence in the field. He was described as a "Research Pioneer" by the journal Antioxidants & Redox Signaling in 2011. Same year, he was also awarded the Ken Bowman Research Award for outstanding achievements in the field of cardiovascular research from the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (Canada) and NUS University Award – Outstanding Researcher Award. He was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012. Halliwell was awarded a Doctor of Science honoris causa by King's College London in 2018. He was again identified as a "Highly Cited Scientist" for cross-disciplinary work by Clarivate Analytics in 2018. He was honoured as a Citation Laureate (2021) for "pioneering research in free-radical chemistry including the role of free radicals and antioxidants in human disease".
== Safety risk == HCPs in biopharmaceutical products pose a potential safety risk to humans by introducing foreign proteins and biomolecules to the human immune system. Since common host cells used to produce biopharmaceutical drugs are E. coli, yeast, mouse myeloma cell line (NS0) and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO), the resultant HCPs are genetically different to what the human body recognizes. As a consequence of this, the presence of HCPs in humans can activate an immune response, which can lead to possibly severe health concerns. There is a correlation between the amount of foreign antigens (HPCs) in our body and the level of immune response our body produces. The more HCPs present in a drug, the higher the immune response that will be activated. Several studies have linked a reduction in HCPs to a decline in specific inflammatory cytokines. Other HCPs may be very similar to a human protein and may induce an immune response with cross reactivity against the human protein or the drug substance protein. The exact consequences of HCPs for an individual patient is uncertain and difficult to determine with the current analytical methods used in biopharmaceutical production and analysis.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Microbial adaptations == Survival in sea ice brine pockets and channels, which are freezing, hypersaline, and light-limited environments, requires organisms to adapt well to these conditions. Photosynthetic protists and cyanobacteria need to be able to produce energy through alternate metabolic pathways when light is limited within brine pockets. Sea ice brine pockets in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice sheets will experience several weeks of no light at certain locations. In addition to sea ice and snow blocking light from entering brine pockets, seasonal variations of light levels can result in brine pockets being extremely light-limited at times. Sea ice diatoms can alter their metabolic and photosynthetic pathways to survive during periods of little-to-no light. Such adaptations include developing flexible photosystems and altering photosynthetic pigment compositions to allow diatoms to photoacclimate and maintain high photosynthetic efficiency when light levels are low. Sea ice diatoms also have the ability to upregulate and downregulate proteins required for photosynthesis rapidly as light levels change, which helps them survive the environmental stresses of becoming trapped in sea ice and being released back into the ocean as ice melts. Additionally, sea ice microalgae (photosynthetic protists) may be mixotrophic, allowing them to switch to heterotrophy when light is limited.
=== Biodiesel production === Conversion of vegetable oil to biodiesel is via a transesterification reaction, where a triglyceride is converted to the methyl esters (of the fatty acids) plus glycerol. This is usually done using methanol and caustic or acid catalysts, but can be achieved using supercritical methanol without a catalyst. The method of using supercritical methanol for biodiesel production was first studied by Saka and his coworkers. This has the advantage of allowing a greater range and water content of feedstocks (in particular, used cooking oil), the product does not need to be washed to remove catalyst, and is easier to design as a continuous process.
=== Herbal medicine === In traditional Chinese medicine, Lonicera japonica is called rěn dōng téng (忍冬藤); literally "winter enduring vine") or jīn yín huā (Chinese: 金銀花; literally "gold-silver flower", in reference to the presence of flowers of different age on the same plant as each flower changes from white (silver) to yellow (gold)). Alternative Chinese names include er hua (二花) and shuang hua (雙花), meaning double-[color] flowers.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Cholesterol homeostasis === As a negative post-translational regulator of the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), PCSK9 plays a major role in cholesterol homeostasis. Upon binding of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol to the LDL receptor, the resulting LDLR-LDL complex is internalized. When exposed to the acidic environment within the resulting endosome LDLR adopts a hairpin conformation. This conformational change in turn induces the dissociation of the LDL-LDLR complex, allowing LDLR to be recycled back to the plasma membrane. Binding of PCSK9 to cell surface LDLR (through the LDLR EGF-A domain) also induces LDLR internalization. However, unlike LDL binding, PCSK9 prevents LDLR from undergoing a conformational change. This inhibition redirects LDLR to a lysosome where it is degraded. Thus, PCSK9 lowers cell surface expression of LDLR and thereby decreases metabolism of LDL-particles, which in turn may lead to hypercholesterolemia. PCSK9 also plays an important role in triglyceride-rich apoB lipoprotein production in small intestine and postprandial lipemia.
== External links == Gerritsen VB (September 2003). "The Plant Kingdom's sloth". Protein Spotlight. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB). Rubisco plods along at a mere three molecules per second... To bypass such slothfulness, plants synthesize a gross amount of Rubisco, sometimes up to 50% of their total protein content!
=== 23 March === Dmitry Medvedev, former president of Russia and current deputy chairman of Russia's security council, threatened war against any country, if their officials attempted to arrest Putin on the ICC warrant, during a future state visit. He also described the ICC as a "legal nonentity that had never done anything significant". He also threatened that Russia would in that case possibly attack the International Criminal Court with hypersonic missiles that would be launched from a ship in the North Sea. Medvedev also reaffirmed his previous warnings that the chance of nuclear war increases each time the western nations send military aid to Ukraine. Sweden approved 6.2 billion kronor worth of military aid to Ukraine which included vehicles and ammunition.
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.
Reports describe effects on GABA-A receptor expression, monoamine turnover, and neurotrophic factor levels. These are proposed mechanisms drawn mainly from animal models. No single molecular target has been established.