Epitalon — wholesale 10-vial kits

Research context

Epitalon — also written epithalon or epithalone, and abbreviated AEDG — is the synthetic tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly. It came out of the peptide bioregulator program led by Vladimir Khavinson at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology. The group first studied epithalamin, a polypeptide extract of bovine pineal tissue, then designed a defined tetrapeptide from its amino-acid composition. The synthetic molecule is easier to make, purify and characterize than the parent extract, which is the reason it displaced it as the working compound in that literature.

The design is minimal: four residues, no modifications, no disulfide, two acidic side chains and a C-terminal glycine. That combination makes the peptide strongly hydrophilic and anionic at neutral pH, with essentially no hydrophobic surface — the practical consequence being very early elution on reversed-phase HPLC and the need for ion-pairing or HILIC methods to get usable retention. The same charge pattern underlies the central mechanistic hypothesis in this family, that short anionic peptides can interact directly with DNA and chromatin.

Published mechanism work is mostly at that molecular-interaction level and in cell culture. A 2003 study in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine reported telomerase induction and telomere elongation in cultured human somatic cells; fluorescence-labelling experiments published in Biochemistry (Moscow) in 2011 showed nuclear penetration of short labelled peptides, including AEDG, in HeLa cells and sequence-specific interaction with deoxyribo-oligonucleotides in vitro; and a 2021 systematic review in Molecules sets out the peptide–DNA transcription-modulation framework for this series. Animal work from the same program includes a 2002 study in transgenic her-2/neu mice examining lifespan and mammary tumour incidence, and reports on pineal melatonin rhythm in aged animals. The evidence base is concentrated in one research lineage, with little independent replication, and the proposed mechanism remains contested — a point worth recording in a study design. The hypothesis is shared with the related tripeptide Pinealon.

Bench use reflects that: telomerase-activity assays (TRAP and qPCR-based), telomere-length measurement in cultured fibroblasts and lymphocytes, fluorescence or confocal uptake studies on labelled analogs, electrophoretic-mobility-shift and spectroscopic DNA-binding work, and gene-expression panels. It is also used as a chromatographic reference standard for very polar short peptides.

Regulatory position, stated factually: Epitalon is not FDA-approved and is not the active ingredient of any approved U.S. product. Epitalon-related bulk substances were discussed at the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee meeting of July 23–24, 2026, and the HHS interim enforcement-discretion notice published in the Federal Register on October 30, 2026 addresses certain peptide bulk substances used in 503A compounding pending rulemaking; it is not an approval and is directed at licensed compounders, not at research suppliers. WholesalePeptide.us supplies Epitalon as a research reference standard for in-vitro, analytical and preclinical laboratory research.

As a four-residue acidic peptide, Epitalon is very hydrophilic and elutes early on RP-HPLC. The lot COA states the chromatographic method used so purity values can be compared across lots.

Research areas

• telomerase activity in cultured somatic cells
• pineal peptide bioregulators
• peptide–DNA interaction and gene expression
• aging biology in rodent models
• telomerase-activity and telomere-length assays
• very polar peptide chromatography method development

U.S. regulatory status of the compound (as an active ingredient): Not approved by the FDA. The material sold here is a research reference chemical, not a drug product.

Handling and storage

• Store lyophilized vials at −20 °C, sealed, protected from light and moisture.
• Let the vial equilibrate to room temperature before opening to limit condensation.
• Reconstitute in an appropriate sterile buffer or solvent according to your laboratory SOP.
• Aliquot reconstituted material and avoid repeated freeze–thaw.