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Epithalon

Epithalon is a lab-made peptide of just four amino acids, designed from the makeup of a pineal gland extract.

Where it came from

Epithalon was designed by Vladimir Khavinson and colleagues at a research institute in St. Petersburg, Russia. Their starting point was epithalamin, a crude extract of the pineal gland, a small gland in the brain, which the same group had studied earlier.

Instead of copying a natural protein, they measured which building blocks the extract contained and built a short lab-made peptide from them.

Worth knowing

• It is a chain of just four amino acids: alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid and glycine (AEDG for short). Two of the four are acidic, which makes it dissolve easily in water.
• Building a peptide from the ingredient list of an extract, rather than copying a natural one, is an unusual way to arrive at one.
• "Epitalon" and "Epithalon" are two spellings of the same name, translated from Russian.

At a glance

Weight is shown in grams per mole (g/mol), the standard unit chemists use. It's the number a lab checks a sample against to confirm it's the right compound.

Lab reports

Every batch (called a lot) of Epithalon is tested by an independent lab. The report shows the lab, the test date, the lot number, how pure the sample is and how much is in the vial. Find them on the Certificates of Analysis page. New to lab reports? Start with How to read a peptide lab report.

The weight above is for the compound on its own. A report may show a slightly higher figure, because the powder also carries a little salt left from manufacturing. Peptide salt forms explains why.

Storage

Keep the vial sealed in a freezer at -20 °C, away from light, and let it warm to room temperature before opening so moisture doesn't get in. More in Storing lyophilized (freeze-dried) peptides in the lab and the Research handling guidelines.

For research use only. Not for human or veterinary use.