This is a working overview of telomerase, written for readers who want more than a one-paragraph summary but less than a textbook.
This page was last updated on 2026-08-01 and is reviewed periodically as new material appears.
The peptide is a synthetic analogue of epithalamin, a preparation extracted from bovine pineal glands. Investigators sought a short, chemically defined molecule that would reproduce some of the endocrine and gerontological observations attributed to the glandular extract. Proposed mechanisms centre on induction of telomerase activity, an effect reported in cultured human somatic cells in the early 2000s, together with influences on melatonin secretion and neuroendocrine regulation. Those mechanisms remain incompletely characterised, and the reported telomerase response has not been consistently reproduced by independent groups working in comparable systems.
Published work on this compound consists mainly of in vitro experiments, animal studies, and small clinical investigations, a substantial share of which appeared in Russian-language journals. Sample sizes are generally small, control conditions differ between studies, and several endpoints rely on markers whose clinical meaning is itself debated. Reviews of the longevity field treat the peptide as an early example of telomerase-directed research rather than an established intervention. Regulatory treatment varies by country: some jurisdictions place it under prescription controls, others treat it as a laboratory material, and importation may be restricted regardless of local status.
Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide whose sequence is alanine–glutamate–aspartate–glycine, commonly abbreviated AEDG. It was developed in Russia during the 1980s and 1990s by investigators associated with the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, who studied short peptides as regulators of gene expression and tissue function. The alternative spelling epithalon appears interchangeably in the literature, and the two names refer to the same molecule. Outside Russia it is encountered chiefly as a research chemical rather than a licensed medicine, and it holds no approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency.
Residue composition is the property that most cleanly separates verified material from mislabelled samples. Alanine, glutamate, aspartate and glycine appear in that order from the N-terminus, and the two acidic residues sit in the middle of the chain. Because the peptide is short, it can be produced by solid-phase synthesis and characterised by mass spectrometry without ambiguity. Any reported sample whose measured mass departs substantially from 390 daltons is a different compound or a degraded mixture rather than epitalon.
Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide whose four residues are alanine, glutamate, aspartate and glycine, commonly abbreviated AEDG. Its molecular formula is C14H22N4O9 and its monoisotopic mass is near 390.35 daltons. The peptide carries two acidic side chains, so it is neutral to negatively charged in most aqueous buffers. Published reference summaries usually list it under both spellings, epitalon and epithalon, and treat the two names as the same material.
The compound is generally described as a synthetic analogue of a fragment isolated from a pineal gland extract. Researchers associated with the Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology introduced it during the 1980s and 1990s while studying short peptides from animal tissue. The original extract, called epithalamin, is a heterogeneous mixture, whereas epitalon is a single defined sequence. That distinction matters because findings reported for the extract are not automatically findings about the pure tetrapeptide, and claims about broader biological effects remain a separate question from the chemical identity described here.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peptide sequence | Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly | Often abbreviated AEDG in research literature |
| Common synonyms | Epithalon, epitalon, AEDG | Spelling variants refer to the same tetrapeptide |
| Molecular formula | C14H22N4O9 | Theoretical monoisotopic mass near 390.35 Da |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typically supplied as a lyophilised solid |
| Solubility class | Freely soluble in water | Hydrophilic peptide; dissolves in aqueous buffer |
The compound is described in the literature as a derivative of epithalamin, a preparation obtained from bovine pineal tissue. Work on this peptide family was carried out mainly by a research group in Saint Petersburg beginning in the 1980s, and the substance was later registered for clinical use in Russia under the name Epitalon. Outside that region it is generally treated as a research chemical rather than an approved medicine. Statements about its biological activity rest on a relatively small number of studies, and independent replication remains limited.
In its supplied form epitalon is a white to off-white powder, usually lyophilized and often hygroscopic. It dissolves readily in water and in aqueous buffers, and it is commonly handled as the acetate or trifluoroacetate salt to improve stability during purification and drying. The amide backbone is labile in aqueous media, so solutions are less durable than the dry solid. Handling notes in the chemical literature therefore emphasize keeping the powder dry, cool and shielded from light until it is dissolved.
Material supplied for laboratory use is normally a lyophilised white to off-white powder that dissolves readily in water and in isotonic saline. Lyophilised cakes are hygroscopic and should be equilibrated to room temperature before opening to limit condensation on the solid. Solutions are typically prepared at milligram-per-millilitre concentrations and divided into single-use aliquots, because repeated freeze–thaw cycles degrade short peptides. Aqueous solutions are far less stable than the dry powder, and identity is usually verified by mass spectrometry alongside purity estimation from reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.
Epitalon is a synthetic linear tetrapeptide with the sequence alanine–glutamate–aspartate–glycine, abbreviated AEDG. Its molecular formula is C14H22N4O9 and the calculated mass is approximately 390.35 g/mol. The compound is made by solid-phase peptide synthesis rather than extracted from tissue, although early work described it as a short fragment of a peptide fraction obtained from bovine pineal extract. In the research literature the spelling epitalon and the variant epithalone both appear, while AEDG is the standard code used in peptide nomenclature.
Combining an adsorbent with a refrigerant, adsorption chillers use heat to provide a cooling effect. This heat, in the form of hot water, may come from any number of industrial sources including waste heat from industrial processes, prime heat from solar thermal installations or from the exhaust or water jacket heat of a piston engine or turbine. Although there are similarities between adsorption chillers and absorption refrigeration, the former is based on the interaction between gases and solids. The adsorption chamber of the chiller is filled with a solid material (for example zeolite, silica gel, alumina, active carbon or certain types of metal salts), which in its neutral state has adsorbed the refrigerant. When heated, the solid desorbs (releases) refrigerant vapour, which subsequently is cooled and liquefied. This liquid refrigerant then provides a cooling effect at the evaporator from its enthalpy of vaporization. In the final stage the refrigerant vapour is (re)adsorbed into the solid. As an adsorption chiller requires no compressor, it is relatively quiet.
=== Second Trump administration (2025–present) === In January 2025, President Donald Trump revoked Biden's Executive Order 14110 (Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence) by issuing Executive Order 14148 (Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions), reflecting his administration's preference for deregulating AI in support of innovation over safeguarding risks. He then issued Executive Order 14179 (Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence), which called for development of a national "AI Action Plan" and aimed to strengthen U.S. leadership in AI. In 2025, Congress passed legislation targeting AI-generated deepfakes, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which prohibits nonconsensual disclosure of AI-generated "intimate imagery", requiring all platforms to remove such content. Lawmakers also reintroduced the CREATE AI Act to codify the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR), which aimed to expand public access to computing resources, datasets, and AI testing environments. Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce also expanded export controls on AI technology, and NIST published an updated set of guidances on AI cybersecurity risks. In March 2025, OpenAI made a policy proposal for the Trump administration to preempt pending AI-related state laws with federal laws. Meta, Google, IBM and Andreessen Horowitz also pressured the government to adopt national rules that would rein in state laws, especially in California.
This loop is believed to play an important role in stabilizing the cyclotide structure through hydrogen bonding with residues from loops 3 and 5. Loops 2-6 also have highly conserved features, including the ubiquitous presence of just a single amino acid in loop 4 that is likely involved in sidechain-sidechain hydrogen bonding. Other conserved residues include a hydroxyl-containing residue in loop 3, a glycine residue in the final position of loop 3, a basic and a proline residue in the penultimate position in loop 5 of bracelet and Möbius cyclotides respectively, and an asparagine (or occasionally aspartic acid) residue at the putative cyclisation point in loop 6. It is of interest to note that not only are certain residues highly conserved, but the backbone and side chain angles are as well. With recent screening programs suggesting that the number of cyclotide sequences may soon reach the thousands, a database, CyBase, has been developed that offers the opportunity for comparisons of sequences and activity data for cyclotides. Several other families of circular proteins are known in bacteria, plants and animals and are also included in CyBase.
Acronyms used: HFC – Human frontal cortex receptor MB – Mouse brain receptor RC – Cloned rat receptor A study measuring the in vivo receptor occupancies of 13 schizophrenic patients treated with 5.7 ± 1.4 mg/day of flupentixol found 50-70% receptor occupancy for D2, 20 ± 5% for D1, and 20 ± 10% for 5-HT2A. Its antipsychotic effects are predominantly a function of D2 antagonism. Its antidepressant effects at lower doses are not well understood; however, it may be mediated by functional selectivity and/or preferentially binding to D2 autoreceptors at low doses, resulting in increased postsynaptic activation via higher dopamine levels. Flupentixol's demonstrated ability to raise dopamine levels in mice and flies lends credibility to the supposition of autoreceptor bias. Functional selectivity may be responsible through causing preferential autoreceptor binding or other means. The effective dosage guideline for an antipsychotic is very closely related to its receptor residency time (i.e., where drugs like aripiprazole take several minutes or more to disassociate from a receptor while drugs like quetiapine and clozapine—with guideline dosages in the hundreds of milligrams—take under 30s) and long receptor residency time is strongly correlated with likehood of pronounced functional selectivity; thus, with a maximum guideline dose of only 18 mg/day for schizophrenia, there is a significant possibility of this drug possessing unique signalling characteristics that permit counterintuitive dopaminergic action at low doses. Flupentixol also inhibits tubulin polymerization.
Nalfurafine (INN, USAN; brand name Remitch; former developmental code names TRK-820, AC-820, MT-9938) is an antipruritic (anti-itch drug) that is marketed in Japan for the treatment of uremic pruritus in individuals with chronic kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis. It activates the κ-opioid receptor (KOR) and is potent, selective, and centrally active. It was the first selective KOR agonist approved for clinical use. It has also been dubiously referred to as the "first non-narcotic opioid drug" in history.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Metabolomics === Borchers has also applied MRM-based mass spectrometry to targeted metabolomics. With Jun Han, he developed an LC–MS/MS method for profiling bile acids in human and mouse blood, combining the assay with a phospholipid-depletion solid-phase extraction step, which allowed a number of minor bile acids to be quantified in blood for the first time. The same collaboration produced a method for quantifying short-chain fatty acids in human feces, in which the acids are chemically derivatized with 3-nitrophenylhydrazine and measured against isotope-labelled internal standards.
== Presentation == MFS usually afflicts individuals in their fifth to seventh decades of life although uncommon cases occur in adults outside of this age range In one large study, MFS was diagnosed in individuals 21 to 96 years old (median age 66 years). Most studies have diagnosed MFS slightly more often in men than women but one large study conducted in France found it to be 50% more common in men. Individuals with MFS present with a tumor located in an extremity (77% of cases, usually in the lower extremity), trunk (12% of cases), and head and neck areas (3% of cases). Rarely, these tumors have presented in the breast, heart, paratesticular region (i.e. area inside the scrotum including the epididymis the spermatic cord along with its coverings), eye, bone, liver, or multiple sites concurrently. Primary tumors presenting in the abdominal cavity, retroperitoneum, or pelvis have been diagnosed as MFS but larger studies indicate that these tumors are far more likely to be dedifferentiated liposarcomas. MFS tumors usually develop as painless, slowly enlarging masses in a muscle, skin (usually below the fascia i.e. a sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, running beneath the skin), or one of the non-cutaneous areas described above. In one study of 69 FBS cases 36 were <5 cm, 23 were between 5 and 10 cm, and 19 were > 10 cm in diameter with the largest tumor being 27 cm. MFS tumors often infiltrate along vascular and fascial planes, are incompletely removed at surgery, and consequently recur at the surgical site.
== External links == Online Physics Tutorial for MRI and MRS https://aclarion.com/ NOCISCAN (aclarion) – The first, evidence-supported, SaaS platform to leverage MR Spectroscopy to noninvasively help physicians distinguish between painful and nonpainful discs in the spine.
==== Mosque ==== Ibelin's parish church was converted into a mosque, to which a minaret was added during the Mamluk period in 1337. The minaret is still standing, although the mosque itself (the former Crusader church) was blown up by the IDF in 1950.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Epitalon is a synthetic four-amino-acid peptide with the sequence alanine–glutamate–aspartate–glycine, also written AEDG. It was developed in Russian gerontology research and is studied for proposed effects on telomerase, melatonin regulation, and neuroendocrine function. It is not an approved pharmaceutical in the United States or the European Union.
No. Epithalamin is a peptide-rich extract prepared from bovine pineal glands, while epitalon is a short synthetic peptide designed as a defined analogue of it. The synthetic version was intended to provide a reproducible molecule with some of the same proposed biological activity.
Telomere elongation and telomerase activation have been reported in cultured human somatic cells, but evidence from living human subjects is limited and has not been independently confirmed at scale. Reported findings come largely from small studies with differing designs, so the question remains open rather than settled.
It is a four-amino-acid peptide built from alanine, glutamate, aspartate and glycine in that order. Its formula is C14H22N4O9, and it is made by chemical synthesis rather than extracted from tissue. The synthetic peptide is a single defined molecule, unlike the pineal extracts it is often compared with.