Epitalon

01 · What it is

The evidence for Epitalon is large, forty years deep and remarkably internally consistent — and it was produced almost entirely by the institute that invented the compound, published largely in journals that institute reaches, reporting effect sizes that no independent group has attempted to reproduce.

That is a statement about the structure of a literature, not an accusation, and this guide is built around it because no honest account of this compound can avoid it.

Epitalon — also written Epithalon, and in the more recent papers AEDG — is the synthetic tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly. It came out of a programme at what is now the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, led by Vladimir Khavinson, which since the 1970s has developed short peptides described as “bioregulators,” each proposed to act on the tissue from which it was originally extracted.

A naming distinction has to come first, because the strongest claim attached to this compound is not about this compound. Epithalamin is a peptide extract of bovine pineal gland — a mixture, prepared from tissue. Epitalon is a synthetic four-residue peptide said to derive from it. They are not the same substance. The animal lifespan work spans both ^1,2,3,4, and the human longevity claim belongs to Epithalamin ²³.

That human claim is extraordinary and needs stating precisely. Investigators at the St Petersburg institute and the Institute of Gerontology in Kiev followed 266 elderly and older people for six to eight years, giving the thymic bioregulator Thymalin and the pineal bioregulator Epithalamin during the first two to three years. They reported reduced incidence of acute respiratory disease, ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, osteoarthrosis and osteoporosis against control, and a mortality rate lower by a factor of 2.0–2.1 with Thymalin, 1.6–1.8 with Epithalamin, and 2.5 with both — and in a separate group given both annually for six years, lower by a factor of 4.1 ²³.

A 4.1-fold reduction in mortality would be the largest effect ever reported for any intervention in geriatric medicine. The abstract of that paper does not state that the study was randomised, does not state that it was blinded, and does not describe how the control group was constituted. It was published in Neuro Endocrinology Letters by the institutes that developed both compounds. No independent group has attempted to replicate it in the twenty-three years since.

The tetrapeptide’s own human record is a single indexed study. A 2002 paper reports that Epitalon therapy in patients with degenerative retinal lesions produced a positive clinical effect in 90% of cases ¹⁵. PubMed indexes it as a clinical trial. Its abstract gives no number of patients, no control group, no randomisation, no blinding, and no outcome definition; roughly half of it describes a parallel experiment in Campbell rats ¹⁵.

The most useful recent work is independent, and it complicates the story. A UK group treated breast cancer cell lines and normal epithelial and fibroblast cells with epitalon. In normal cells, telomere length extended dose-dependently through hTERT and telomerase upregulation. In the cancer cell lines, telomere length also extended — through activation of alternative lengthening of telomeres, a mechanism the same paper reports as largely specific to the cancer cells ³⁹. A correction to that paper was published two months later ⁴⁰.

Lengthening telomeres in cancer cells by a mechanism cancer cells specifically use is not a promotional finding, and it is the first thing an independent laboratory found when it looked.

02 · Evidence at a glance

Evidence grade

Early Clinical — one indexed human study of the tetrapeptide exists ¹⁵; see the qualification below

Structure

Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, a synthetic tetrapeptide; written AEDG in later papers

Not to be confused with

Epithalamin — a bovine pineal tissue extract, which is a different substance and carries the human longevity claim ²³

Origin

St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, from the 1970s onward

Indexed records (all three names)

~220

Proposed mechanism

Telomerase induction and telomere lengthening ³⁹; gene expression modulation ^11,26,34

Independent replication of the telomere effect

Yes — and it extended telomeres in cancer cell lines via ALT ³⁹, with a published correction ⁴⁰

Human study of the tetrapeptide

One, reporting “positive clinical effect in 90% of the cases,” with no n, control, randomisation or blinding in its abstract ¹⁵

Human study of the extract

266 people over 6–8 years, claiming up to 4.1-fold lower mortality; design not described in the abstract ²³

Animal lifespan data

Drosophila, mice and rats, across multiple strains ^{2,3,4,22,27,32}

Animal cancer data

Multiple models, uniformly reporting tumour suppression ^{10,16,17,18,24,29}

Product identity finding

Epitalon identified in two illegal pharmaceutical preparations by a national public health laboratory ³³

Approval status

None in the United States or the European Union

On the grade. The rubric places a compound at Early Clinical when at least one human trial has been published, and one has ¹⁵. The grade reflects the existence of that publication and nothing more. A reader who concluded from “Early Clinical” that human efficacy has been demonstrated would be drawing an inference this evidence cannot support, and Section 8 sets out why.

03 · Mechanism of action

Telomerase, and the one part of the mechanism that has been independently tested

The central mechanistic claim is that Epitalon induces telomerase and lengthens telomeres. It is also the only mechanistic claim in this file that an unaffiliated laboratory has examined directly.

A UK group applied epitalon to the breast cancer lines 21NT and BT474 and to normal epithelial cells and fibroblasts, then measured telomere length, hTERT mRNA, telomerase enzyme activity and alternative lengthening of telomeres by qPCR and immunofluorescence. In the normal cells, telomere length extended in a dose-dependent manner through hTERT and telomerase upregulation, with only a minor increase in ALT activity. In the cancer cells, telomere extension occurred through ALT activation, which the authors report as specific to those cells ³⁹. A correction was published afterwards ⁴⁰, and this guide cites both.

Independent work in reproductive biology reports the same direction: epitalon-activated telomerase enhanced bovine oocyte maturation rate and post-thaw embryo development ³⁶, and epitalon protected mouse oocytes against post-ovulatory ageing-related damage in vitro ³⁵.

Telomerase induction is the compound’s best-supported mechanism and the source of its most significant unresolved safety question. Both halves of that sentence come from the same paper ³⁹.

Gene expression

DNA-microarray work compared Vilon and Epithalon effects on gene expression in mouse heart ¹¹, and a later study examined melatonin and the tetrapeptide in mouse brain ²⁶. A 2020 paper reported that the AEDG peptide stimulates gene expression and protein synthesis during neurogenesis, proposing an epigenetic mechanism ³⁴.

Microarray studies establish that transcription changes. They do not establish which change matters, and no downstream target has been isolated and confirmed in the way CK2 was confirmed for MOTS-c.

Pineal and circadian effects

Epitalon influenced pineal secretion in stress-exposed rats during the daytime ²⁰, and intranasal administration modulated neuronal activity in the rat neocortex ³¹. Pineal peptides restored age-related disturbances in the hormonal functions of the pineal gland and the pancreas in monkeys ²⁸. In elderly people, Epithalamin affected the circadian relationship between the endocrine function of the thymus and the melatonin-producing function of the pineal gland ²⁵.

A tetrapeptide named for the pineal gland acting on pineal output is the field’s founding premise. The supporting work is consistent and is almost entirely from one group.

Antioxidant activity

Pineal geroprotective peptides show antioxidant properties in vitro ³⁰, and the effects of Epithalamin on free-radical processes were reviewed early in humans and animals ⁵. A 2025 study by an Italian group working with two of the original investigators reported that the tetrapeptide enhanced delayed wound healing in an in vitro model of diabetic retinopathy ³⁸.

Immune signalling

Epitalon altered interleukin-1β signal transduction and thymocyte blast transformation under stress ¹⁹, and modulated spleen morphology in old pinealectomised rats alongside Epithalamin ⁷.

04 · Key research findings

Lifespan in short-lived species. Epithalamin increased lifespan in fruit flies, mice and rats ³, and its effect on lifespan and free-radical oxidation in Drosophila was examined alongside melatonin ². Epitalon itself increased lifespan in Drosophila ⁴. In female Swiss-derived SHR mice, Epitalon affected biomarkers of ageing, lifespan and spontaneous tumour incidence ²². In senescence- accelerated mice, epitalon and melatonin were compared for lifespan and spontaneous carcinogenesis ²⁷, and epithalon reduced chromosome aberrations in the same strain ¹². In female rats kept under different illumination regimes, the Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly peptide affected lifespan and spontaneous tumour development ³².

Six lifespan studies across three species, all reporting benefit, all involving the same group. The consistency is the point and the problem: a literature with no negative results in forty years is either describing a very robust effect or is not a complete record of what was run.

Carcinogenesis. Epitalon inhibited colon carcinogenesis induced by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine in rats ¹⁷, with a companion study examining proliferative activity and apoptosis in colon tumours and mucosa ²⁴. It inhibited spontaneous mammary tumour development in HER-2/neu transgenic mice ¹⁸, decelerated ageing and suppressed breast adenocarcinoma development in the same model ¹⁶, and inhibited tumour growth and HER-2/neu oncogene expression there ¹⁰. It reduced spontaneous carcinogenesis in female C3H/He mice ²⁹.

Six cancer models, one direction. This is the strongest branch of the animal file, and the International Journal of Cancer paper ¹⁸ is among the few in this literature published outside the group’s usual outlets.

The human longevity claim. 266 elderly and older people, six to eight years of observation, bioregulators given during the first two to three years. Reported improvements across cardiovascular, endocrine, immune and nervous system indices; acute respiratory disease incidence lower by a factor of 2.0–2.4; reduced clinical manifestations of ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, deforming osteoarthrosis and osteoporosis; mortality lower by 2.0–2.1-fold with Thymalin, 1.6–1.8-fold with Epithalamin, 2.5-fold with both, and 4.1-fold in a group given both annually for six years ²³.

The effect size is the reason to look closely, not the reason to believe. The abstract reports no randomisation, no blinding and no description of the control group, and the study concerns the pineal extract rather than the tetrapeptide. It has not been independently replicated.

The human study of the tetrapeptide. Epitalon intensified the bioelectric and functional activity of the retina in Campbell rats through preservation of morphological structure, and “Epitalon therapy in patients with degenerative retinal lesions results in a positive clinical effect in 90% of the cases” ¹⁵. The rat work in that model was reported separately ⁹.

One sentence about patients, with no number, no comparator, no blinding and no definition of “positive clinical effect.” This is the entire indexed human evidence base for the compound sold under this name.

Independent cell biology. Telomere extension in normal human cells through hTERT and telomerase, and in breast cancer cell lines through ALT ^39,40. Enhanced bovine oocyte maturation and post-thaw embryo development via telomerase activation ³⁶. Protection of mouse oocytes from post-ovulatory ageing damage ³⁵. Enhanced wound healing in an in vitro diabetic retinopathy model ³⁸.

Four studies by groups outside the originating institute, three of them since 2022, all reporting activity. This is the most important development in this literature in two decades — and the first one to surface a mechanism that cuts against the compound rather than for it ³⁹.

Gastrointestinal physiology. Epithalon altered gastrointestinal enzyme activities in young and old rats ¹³; with Vilon, it affected enzyme activity in the epithelial and subepithelial layers of the small intestine in old rats ²¹ and glucose and glycine absorption across intestinal regions in aged rats ¹⁴.

Product identity. Belgium’s national public health institute identified the tetrapeptide Epitalon in two illegal pharmaceutical preparations, noting that it is assumed to be a potential treatment for cancer, old age and retinitis pigmentosa ³³.

A national laboratory analysing seized product is not a scientific endorsement of the compound and is the only published analysis of any commercial material bearing this name.

Contemporary reviews. A 2025 Polish review surveys the compound’s chemistry and reported properties ³⁷; a 2026 review places it among therapeutic peptides discussed in gerontology ⁴¹; a 1994 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences review summarised the first twenty years of Epithalamin work ¹; and the group’s 2002 monograph-length supplement, 134 pages under a single author, remains the field’s foundational text ⁸.

05 · Evidence overview

06 · Safety profile

Animal data. No formal toxicology programme is identified. The animal studies are lifespan and carcinogenesis experiments, several of them running the full natural life of the animals ^3,4,22,27,32, which provides an unusual amount of long-duration exposure data — and every one of them reports benefit rather than harm, which is the reason that reassurance carries less weight than its duration suggests. Chromosome aberration incidence fell rather than rose in senescence-accelerated mice ¹².

Human data. The retinitis pigmentosa report gives no safety information ¹⁵. The 266-person bioregulator study reports improved health indices and reduced mortality and does not describe adverse event collection ²³. The elderly circadian study concerns the pineal extract ²⁵.

What is genuinely unknown. The most important item is specific and comes from the independent work: epitalon extended telomere length in breast cancer cell lines through alternative lengthening of telomeres ³⁹. ALT is a mechanism by which tumours maintain telomeres in the absence of telomerase, and a compound that activates it in cancer cells has a theoretical capacity to sustain transformed cells — a possibility no animal study has tested, and one that sits awkwardly beside the six animal studies reporting reduced tumour incidence ^{10,16,17,18,24,29}. Beyond that: pharmacokinetics in any species, absent entirely, for a tetrapeptide expected to clear in minutes. Whether the intranasal route reported in rats ³¹ delivers anything measurable. Repeat-dose toxicology, genotoxicity, reproductive toxicology and carcinogenicity, none performed to any modern standard. Immunogenicity, unassessed. The consequences of sustained telomerase induction in a person, which is the compound’s entire proposition and has never been measured in one. And what is in any given vial: the only published analysis examined seized illegal preparations ³³.

07 · US regulatory status

Current as of 6 September 2026. Epitalon is not approved as a drug in the United States or the European Union and is not a controlled substance in the United States.

Its regulatory history sits largely outside those jurisdictions. Epithalamin and related bioregulators were developed and used within the Soviet and later Russian medical systems, and this guide does not attempt to characterise that status, because doing so accurately would require primary regulatory documents in Russian that have not been consulted for this piece. What can be said from the indexed literature is that Belgium’s public health institute identified Epitalon in two illegal pharmaceutical preparations and treated it as an unauthorised substance ³³.

Under the World Anti-Doping Code, peptide hormones and growth factors are prohibited at all times, and substances that are not approved for human therapeutic use by any governmental regulatory health authority fall within class S0. Competitors should consult the current Prohibited List directly rather than rely on secondary summaries, including this one.

08 · Limitations of the evidence

1. Research concentration is the defining weakness of this file, and it is more severe than anywhere else in this project. One institute, one principal investigator group, four decades. Of the roughly forty references in this guide, the large majority carry Khavinson or Anisimov as an author. That is not misconduct; it is what a single-institute research programme looks like. It also means that essentially every in vivo claim about this compound rests on the work of people with a stake in the answer, and no independent laboratory has attempted to reproduce any animal result.
2. The human longevity claim is about a different substance, and its design is not described. Epithalamin is a bovine pineal extract; Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide [24 versus 16]. The 266-person study reports no randomisation, no blinding and no account of the control group, and reports a 4.1-fold mortality reduction ²³ — an effect size larger than any established intervention in medicine. The size of the claim and the thinness of the reported method point the same way.
3. The single human study of the tetrapeptide reports one sentence of clinical result. “Positive clinical effect in 90% of the cases” with no n, no comparator and no outcome definition ¹⁵. This guide grades the compound Early Clinical because that paper exists, and readers should weight it accordingly.
4. No study of either substance in any species was randomised and blinded, as far as the indexed record shows.
5. The literature contains no negative results. Forty years, six lifespan studies, six carcinogenesis models, and not one report of no effect ^{2,3,4,10,12,16,17,18,22,24,27,29,32}. In any field, that pattern indicates either an unusually robust phenomenon or an incomplete record, and nothing here allows the two to be distinguished. Publication bias cannot be estimated and should be assumed to be large.
6. Publication venue limits external scrutiny. The great majority of primary reports appear in Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, Neuro Endocrinology Letters, Advances in Gerontology and Voprosy Onkologii. Several are in Russian ²⁷. The foundational review is a 134-page single-authored journal supplement ⁸. A minority appear in journals with broader readership ^{1,17,18,22,28}.
7. The independent replication that does exist surfaced a safety question, not a benefit. Telomere extension in cancer cell lines through ALT ³⁹ is the first thing an unaffiliated laboratory found, and the paper required a correction ⁴⁰. Neither fact settles anything; both belong in any summary of what outside groups have observed.
8. Animal-to-human translation is untested. Lifespan extension in Drosophila ⁴, in senescence-accelerated mice ²⁷ and in SHR mice ²² does not transfer to humans in any field, and here there is no intermediate evidence at all — no pharmacokinetics, no dose-finding, no biomarker study in people.
9. No mechanism has been confirmed to a molecular target. Microarray results ^11,26 and an epigenetic hypothesis ³⁴ describe correlated changes. Telomerase induction ³⁹ is the closest to a defined action, and it was characterised by someone else, in cells, in 2025.
10. Material identity is unestablished. The one published analysis examined illegal preparations seized by a national laboratory ³³. Nothing is known about the identity or purity of material sold as Epitalon through any other channel.

09 · References

1. Anisimov VN, Khavinson VKh, Morozov VG. Twenty years of study on effects of pineal peptide preparation: epithalamin in experimental gerontology and oncology. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1994 May 31;719:483–493.

   PMID 8010617 ↗

2. Anisimov VN, Mylnikov SV, Oparina TI, Khavinson VK. Effect of melatonin and pineal peptide preparation epithalamin on life span and free radical oxidation in Drosophila melanogaster. Mech Ageing Dev. 1997 Aug;97(2):81–91.

   PMID 9226628 ↗

3. Anisimov VN, Mylnikov SV, Khavinson VK. Pineal peptide preparation epithalamin increases the lifespan of fruit flies, mice and rats. Mech Ageing Dev. 1998 Jun 15;103(2):123–132.

   PMID 9701766 ↗

4. Khavinson VK, Izmaylov DM, Obukhova LK, Malinin VV. Effect of epitalon on the lifespan increase in Drosophila melanogaster. Mech Ageing Dev. 2000 Dec 1;120(1–3):141–149.

   PMID 11087911 ↗

5. Anisimov VN, Arutjunyan AV, Khavinson VK. Effects of pineal peptide preparation Epithalamin on free-radical processes in humans and animals. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2001;22(1):9–18.

   PMID 11335874 ↗

6. Khavinson VK, Yakovleva ND, Popuchiev VV, Kvetnoi IM, Manokhina RP. Reparative effect of epithalon on pineal gland ultrastructure in gamma-irradiated rats. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2001 Jan;131(1):81–85.

   PMID 11329090 ↗

7. Khavinson VK, Konovalov SS, Yuzhakov VV, Popuchiev VV, Kvetnoi IM. Modulating effects of epithalamin and epithalon on the functional morphology of the spleen in old pinealectomized rats. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2001 Nov;132(5):1116–1120.

   PMID 11865335 ↗

8. Khavinson VKh. Peptides and Ageing. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2002;23 Suppl 3:11–144.

   PMID 12374906 ↗

9. Khavinson VKh, Razumovskii MI, Trofimova SV, et al. Effect of epithalon on age-specific changes in the retina in rats with hereditary pigmentary dystrophy. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 Jan;133(1):87–89.

   PMID 12170316 ↗

10. Anisimov VN, Khavinson VKh, Alimova IN, et al. Epithalon inhibits tumor growth and expression of HER-2/neu oncogene in breast tumors in transgenic mice characterized by accelerated aging. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 Feb;133(2):167–170.

    PMID 12428286 ↗

11. Anisimov SV, Bokheler KR, Khavinson VKh, Anisimov VN. Studies of the effects of Vilon and Epithalon on gene expression in mouse heart using DNA-microarray technology. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 Mar;133(3):293–299.

    PMID 12360356 ↗

12. Rosenfeld SV, Togo EF, Mikheev VS, Popovich IG, Khavinson VKh, Anisimov VN. Effect of epithalon on the incidence of chromosome aberrations in senescence-accelerated mice. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 Mar;133(3):274–276.

    PMID 12360351 ↗

13. Khavinson VKh, Malinin VV, Timofeeva NM, Egorova VV, Nikitina AA. Effects of epithalon on activities of gastrointestinal enzymes in young and old rats. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 Mar;133(3):290–292.

    PMID 12360355 ↗

14. Khavinson VKh, Egorova VV, Timofeeva NM, Malinin VV, Gordova LA, Gromova LV. Effect of Vilon and Epithalon on glucose and glycine absorption in various regions of small intestine in aged rats. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 May;133(5):494–496.

    PMID 12420071 ↗

15. Khavinson V, Razumovsky M, Trofimova S, Grigorian R, Razumovskaya A. Pineal-regulating tetrapeptide epitalon improves eye retina condition in retinitis pigmentosa. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2002 Aug;23(4):365–368.

    PMID 12195242 ↗

16. Anisimov VN, Khavinson VKh, Alimova IN, Semchenko AV, Yashin AI. Epithalon decelerates aging and suppresses development of breast adenocarcinomas in transgenic her-2/neu mice. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 Aug;134(2):187–190.

    PMID 12459848 ↗

17. Anisimov VN, Khavinson VKh, Popovich IG, Zabezhinski MA. Inhibitory effect of peptide Epitalon on colon carcinogenesis induced by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine in rats. Cancer Lett. 2002 Sep 8;183(1):1–8.

    PMID 12049808 ↗

18. Anisimov VN, Khavinson VK, Provinciali M, et al. Inhibitory effect of the peptide epitalon on the development of spontaneous mammary tumors in HER-2/neu transgenic mice. Int J Cancer. 2002 Sep 1;101(1):7–10.

    PMID 12209581 ↗

19. Khavinson VKh, Korneva EA, Malinin VV, Rybakina EG, Pivanovich IY, Shanin SN. Effect of epitalon on interleukin-1beta signal transduction and the reaction of thymocyte blast transformation under stress. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2002 Oct–Dec;23(5–6):411–416.

    PMID 12500162 ↗

20. Sibarov DA, Kovalenko RI, Malinin VV, Khavinson VKh. Epitalon influences pineal secretion in stress-exposed rats in the daytime. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2002 Oct–Dec;23(5–6):452–454.

    PMID 12500171 ↗

21. Khavinson VKh, Timofeeva NM, Malinin VV, Gordova LA, Nikitina AA. Effect of vilon and epithalon on activity of enzymes in epithelial and subepithelial layers in small intestine of old rats. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002 Dec;134(6):562–564.

    PMID 12660839 ↗

22. Anisimov VN, Khavinson VKh, Popovich IG, et al. Effect of Epitalon on biomarkers of aging, life span and spontaneous tumor incidence in female Swiss-derived SHR mice. Biogerontology. 2003;4(4):193–202.

    PMID 14501183 ↗

23. Khavinson VKh, Morozov VG. Peptides of pineal gland and thymus prolong human life. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2003 Jun–Aug;24(3–4):233–240.

    PMID 14523363 ↗

24. Kossoy G, Zandbank J, Tendler E, et al. Epitalon and colon carcinogenesis in rats: proliferative activity and apoptosis in colon tumors and mucosa. Int J Mol Med. 2003 Oct;12(4):473–477.

    PMID 12964022 ↗

25. Labunets IF, Butenko GM, Magdich LV, Korkushko OV, Khavinson VKh, Shatilo VB. Effect of epithalamin on circadian relationship between the endocrine function of the thymus and melatonin-producing function of the pineal gland in elderly people. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2004 May;137(5):507–509.

    PMID 15455130 ↗

26. Anisimov SV, Khavinson VKh, Anisimov VN. Effect of melatonin and tetrapeptide on gene expression in mouse brain. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2004 Nov;138(5):504–509.

    PMID 15723138 ↗

27. Anisimov VN, Popovich IG, Zabezhinskiĭ MA, et al. [Effect of epitalon and melatonin on life span and spontaneous carcinogenesis in senescence accelerated mice (SAM)]. Vopr Onkol. 2005;51(1):93–98. Russian.

    PMID 15909815 ↗

28. Goncharova ND, Vengerin AA, Khavinson VKh, Lapin BA. Pineal peptides restore the age-related disturbances in hormonal functions of the pineal gland and the pancreas. Exp Gerontol. 2005 Jan–Feb;40(1–2):51–57.

    PMID 15664732 ↗

29. Kossoy G, Anisimov VN, Ben-Hur H, Kossoy N, Zusman I. Effect of the synthetic pineal peptide epitalon on spontaneous carcinogenesis in female C3H/He mice. In Vivo. 2006 Mar–Apr;20(2):253–257.

    PMID 16634527 ↗

30. Kozina LS, Arutjunyan AV, Khavinson VKh. Antioxidant properties of geroprotective peptides of the pineal gland. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2007;44 Suppl 1:213–216.

    PMID 17317455 ↗

31. Sibarov DA, Vol’nova AB, Frolov DS, Nozdrachev AD. Effects of intranasal administration of epitalon on neuron activity in the rat neocortex. Neurosci Behav Physiol. 2007 Nov;37(9):889–893.

    PMID 17955380 ↗

32. Vinogradova IA, Bukalev AV, Zabezhinski MA, Semenchenko AV, Khavinson VKh, Anisimov VN. Effect of Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly peptide on life span and development of spontaneous tumors in female rats exposed to different illumination regimes. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2007 Dec;144(6):825–830.

    PMID 18856211 ↗

33. Vanhee C, Moens G, Van Hoeck E, Deconinck E, De Beer JO. Identification of the small research tetra peptide Epitalon, assumed to be a potential treatment for cancer, old age and retinitis pigmentosa, in two illegal pharmaceutical preparations. Drug Test Anal. 2015 Mar;7(3):259–264.

    PMID 25535022 ↗

34. Khavinson V, Diomede F, Mironova E, et al. AEDG peptide (Epitalon) stimulates gene expression and protein synthesis during neurogenesis: possible epigenetic mechanism. Molecules. 2020 Jan 30;25(3):609.

    PMID 32019204 ↗

35. Yue X, Liu SL, Guo JN, et al. Epitalon protects against post-ovulatory aging-related damage of mouse oocytes in vitro. Aging (Albany NY). 2022 Apr 12;14(7):3191–3202.

    PMID 35413689 ↗

36. Ullah S, Haider Z, Perera CD, et al. Epitalon-activated telomerase enhance bovine oocyte maturation rate and post-thawed embryo development. Life Sci. 2025 Feb 1;362:123381.

    PMID 39788414 ↗

37. Araj SK, Brzezik J, Mądra-Gackowska K, Szeleszczuk Ł. Overview of Epitalon — highly bioactive pineal tetrapeptide with promising properties. Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Mar 17;26(6):2691.

    PMID 40141333 ↗

38. Gatta M, Dovizio M, Milillo C, et al. The antioxidant tetrapeptide Epitalon enhances delayed wound healing in an in vitro model of diabetic retinopathy. Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2025 Aug;21(6):1822–1834.

    PMID 40493162 ↗

39. Al-Dulaimi S, Thomas R, Matta S, Roberts T. Epitalon increases telomere length in human cell lines through telomerase upregulation or ALT activity. Biogerontology. 2025 Sep 4;26(5):178.

    PMID 40908429 ↗

40. Al-Dulaimi S, Thomas R, Matta S, Roberts T. Correction: Epitalon increases telomere length in human cell lines through telomerase upregulation or ALT activity. Biogerontology. 2025 Nov 15;27(1):1.

    PMID 41240216 ↗

41. Mavrych V, Shypilova I, Bolgova O. Therapeutic peptides in gerontology: mechanisms and applications for healthy aging. Front Aging. 2026 Apr 7;7:1790247.

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