If you have been reading about tetrapeptide and want a single page that covers the useful parts, this is it: definitions, context, how it is studied, and the questions that come up repeatedly.
Last reviewed on 2025-12-09. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
Several names circulate for the same molecule, including epitalon, epithalone, epithalamin tetrapeptide, and the sequence code AEDG. A CAS registry number, 307297-39-8, is commonly cited for it, though catalogue entries should be checked against supplier documentation because mislabelled records occur. In its usual form the peptide carries free amino and carboxyl termini and is neither glycosylated nor lipidated. Researchers distinguish the defined tetrapeptide from epithalamin itself, a crude pineal preparation containing many peptides that is not chemically characterised.
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.
Because epitalon has no pharmacopoeial monograph, quality assessment depends on supplier documentation and independent testing. Certificates of analysis typically report a purity figure from a single chromatographic run, a measured mass and sometimes an appearance description, but methods and acceptance criteria are not harmonised across vendors. Third-party laboratories can repeat identity and purity measurements, and mismatches between labelled and measured peptide content have been described for research peptides generally. What constitutes adequate identity confirmation for a molecule of this size stays an open question, since mass agreement alone does not separate closely related sequences.
Identity testing for epitalon relies on reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography for purity and mass spectrometry for mass confirmation. Because the sequence contains no tryptophan or tyrosine, ultraviolet detection at 280 nanometres is insensitive, so chromatographic methods usually monitor absorbance near 214 nanometres, where the peptide backbone absorbs. Electrospray ionisation or matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation then checks the intact mass against the expected value near 390 daltons. Peptide mapping or amino acid analysis after acid hydrolysis can supplement these measurements, although such confirmatory work is seldom reported on commercial certificates of analysis.
Stability of the tetrapeptide follows ordinary peptide chemistry rather than any unusual structural feature. The aspartate-glycine pair is prone to aspartimide formation under mildly basic or neutral conditions, and deamidation can follow, altering both mass and chromatographic retention. Dry lyophilised powder kept at or below minus twenty degrees Celsius is the usual handling recommendation, with repeated freeze-thaw cycles avoided. Once dissolved in neutral aqueous buffer, degradation proceeds over days to weeks depending on pH and temperature, while acidic conditions generally slow the aspartimide route. A formal stability-indicating study has not been published in the indexed literature.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amino acid sequence | Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly | Linear tetrapeptide, also written AEDG |
| Molecular mass | About 390.35 g/mol | Value calculated from the sequence |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Lyophilised material forms a loose cake |
| Solubility | Freely soluble in water | Also dissolves in isotonic saline |
| Storage | -20 °C, desiccated | Aliquot solutions to avoid freeze–thaw cycling |
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.
Short peptides such as AEDG are normally supplied as a freeze-dried solid and are kept dry, cold, and shielded from light. Holding at minus twenty degrees Celsius is common for the long term, while a refrigerator suffices for brief periods before use. The material takes up moisture to some degree, so containers should stay sealed and be allowed to reach room temperature before opening, which limits condensation on the contents. Repeated warming and cooling of a single container is discouraged because it admits water and can lower the amount of intact peptide.
Dissolution is usually performed in water or a suitable aqueous buffer, and the resulting liquid is divided into single-use portions before freezing. Freeze-thaw cycling is a recognised source of loss for short peptides, since each cycle can encourage aggregation or adsorption onto container walls. Working solutions are generally kept cold and used within a short window, although published stability data specific to epitalon are thin. Containers should be marked with concentration and date, and solutions examined for cloudiness before use.
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.
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.
Skeletal anomalies aren't present at birth but develop in the individual and include delayed bone maturation, slender long tubular bones, and tall vertebral bodies. Joint hyper-mobility and increased risk of hip dislocation has been presented in individuals. Abnormal spinal curvature, either kyhoscholiosis or hyperlordosis, causing back pain can also be experienced from this disorder. Additional physical abnormalities include an abnormally short broad neck and thorax, square shoulders, flared shoulder blades, unusual curving of the 5th finger, and prominent heels can be seen in some children. In some cases, males have been reported to have impaired fertility due to the reduced production of sex hormones and hypospadias which is when the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis instead of the tip. In contrast, females are reported to have normal ovarian function with this disorder.
The only stable isotopes of thallium (81Tl) are 203Tl and 205Tl, which make up all natural thallium. The five short-lived isotopes 206Tl through 210Tl also occur in nature, but only as part of the natural decay chains of heavier elements. Synthetic radioisotopes are known from 176Tl to 217Tl; the most stable is 204Tl with a half-life of 3.78 years, followed by 202Tl (half-life 12.31 days) and 201Tl (half-life 3.0421 days). The naturally-occurring radioisotopes live minutes only, with the longest being 207Tl, with a half-life of 4.77 minutes. All isotopes of thallium are either radioactive or observationally stable, meaning that they are predicted to be radioactive but no actual decay has been observed. The isotope 204Tl is made by the neutron activation of stable thallium in a nuclear reactor. while 202Tl can be made in a cyclotron as can 201Tl (see section below). In the fully ionized state, the isotope 205Tl81+ becomes unstable, undergoing bound-state β− decay to 205Pb81+ with a half-life of 291+33−27 days, but 203Tl remains stable. 205Tl is the decay product of bismuth-209, an isotope that was once thought to be stable but is now known to undergo alpha decay with an extremely long half-life of 2.01×1019 y. Thus 205Tl is now placed at the end of the neptunium decay chain.
Thus, iodine-131 is increasingly less employed in small doses in medical use (especially in children), but increasingly is used only in large and maximal treatment doses, as a way of killing targeted tissues (i.e. therapeutic use). Iodine-131 can be "seen" by nuclear medicine imaging techniques (e.g., gamma cameras) whenever it is given for therapeutic use, since it is a strong emitter of gamma radiation. However, since the beta radiation causes tissue damage without contributing to any ability to see or "image" the isotope, other less-damaging radioisotopes of iodine such as iodine-123 (see isotopes of iodine) are preferred in situations when only imaging is wanted. The isotope 131I is still occasionally used for purely diagnostic (i.e., imaging) work, due to its low expense compared to other iodine radioisotopes. No increase in thyroid cancer has been seen from the small medical imaging doses of 131I. The low-cost availability of 131I, in turn, is due to the relative ease of creating 131I by neutron bombardment of natural tellurium in a nuclear reactor, then separating 131I out by various simple methods (i.e., heating to drive off the volatile iodine). By contrast, other iodine radioisotopes are usually created by far more expensive techniques, starting with cyclotron radiation of capsules of pressurized xenon gas. Iodine-131 is also one of the most commonly used gamma-emitting radioactive industrial tracer.
== Etymology == The word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, associated by folk etymology with the verb σφίγγω (sphíngō), meaning "to squeeze", "to tighten up". This name may be derived from the fact that lions kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die. However, the historian Susan Wise Bauer suggests that the word "sphinx" was instead a Greek corruption of the Egyptian name "shesepankh", which meant "living image", and referred rather to the statue of the sphinx, which was carved out of "living rock" (rock that was a contiguous part of the stony body of the Earth, shaped, but not cut away from its original source), than to the beast itself.
As a decentralized system, bitcoin operates without a central authority or single administrator, so that anyone can create a new bitcoin address and transact without needing any approval. This is accomplished through a specialized distributed ledger called a blockchain that records bitcoin transactions. The blockchain is implemented as an ordered list of blocks. Each block contains the hash of the previous block, made by hashing its header twice with SHA-256, chaining them in chronological order. The blockchain is maintained by a peer-to-peer network. Individual blocks, public addresses, and transactions within blocks are public information, and can be examined using a blockchain explorer. Nodes validate and broadcast transactions. Each node maintains a copy of the blockchain for ownership verification. A new block is created every 10 minutes on average, updating the blockchain across all nodes without central oversight. This process tracks bitcoin spending, ensuring each bitcoin is spent only once. Unlike a traditional ledger that tracks physical currency, bitcoins exist digitally as unspent outputs of transactions.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Knight Bachelor === Alan Ayckbourn, , Playwright. For services to The Theatre. Jack Mervyn Frank Baer. For services to the Art Trade. Nicholas Brian Baker, , Member of Parliament for Dorset North. For political service. Alec Victor Bedser, . For services to Cricket. Thomas Leon Blundell, . For services to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and to Scientific Research. Alan Peter Budd, Chief Economic Adviser to Her Majesty's Treasury and Head, Government Economic Service. Peter John Davis, Chairman, National Advisory Council for Education and Training Targets. For services to Training and to Industry. Simon James Day. For political and public service. Geoffrey James Dear, , Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary. For services to the Police. Richard Charles Hastings Eyre, , Artistic Director, Royal National Theatre. For services to Drama. David Harrison, , Master, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. For services to Education and to Nuclear Safety. John Smith Harvie, . For political and public service. Robert Baynes Horton, Chairman, Railtrack plc. For services to the Railway Industry. Gordon Minto Hourston, Chairman, Armed Forces' Pay Review Body. For services to the Armed Forces and to Industry. Michael Nicholas Howard Jenkins, , Chairman, Futures and Options Association and the London Clearing House. For services to the Finance Industry. John Martin Kirby Laing, , Chairman, John Laing plc. For services to the Construction Industry. James Paul McCartney, , Musician. For services to Music. Professor Samuel Roy Meadow.
=== Oxidation and inflammation === Free radicals and pro-oxidants in cigarettes damage blood vessels and oxidize LDL cholesterol. Only oxidized LDL cholesterol is taken-up by macrophages, which become foam cells, leading to atherosclerotic plaques. Cigarette smoke increases proinflammatory cytokines in the bloodstream, causing atherosclerosis. The pro-oxidative state also leads to endothelial dysfunction, which is another important cause of atherosclerosis.
[RO−P(O)2−O−P(O)2−O−PO3]4− + H2O → [RO−P(O)2−O−PO3]3− + [HPO4]2− + H+ [RO−P(O)2−O−P(O)2−O−PO3]4− + H2O → [RO−PO3]2− + [HO3P−O−PO3]3− + H+ For ATP hydrolysis that takes place with the physiological concentrations of ATP, ADP, and inorganic phosphate (Pi) within the living cell, the change in Gibbs free energy is given by:
is a small change in the volume of the system, each of which are system variables. In the fictive case in which the process is idealized and infinitely slow, so as to be called quasi-static, and regarded as reversible, the heat being transferred from a source with temperature infinitesimally above the system temperature, the heat energy may be written
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Itopride increases acetylcholine concentrations by inhibiting dopamine D2 receptors and acetylcholinesterase. Higher acetylcholine increases GI peristalsis, increases the lower esophageal sphincter pressure, stimulates gastric motility, accelerates gastric emptying, and improves gastro-duodenal coordination. Itopride given as a single dose study found that it also raises levels of motilin, somatostatin and lowers levels of cholecystokinin, as well as adrenocorticotropic hormone. These effects may also contribute to itopride's pharmacology.
On 13 October 2014, Galloway abstained from a vote in the House of Commons formally recognising Palestine because the motion included the recognition of Israel as well. On the Respect website he advocated a one-state solution.
=== Putative active functions === Treatment of childhood convulsion Analgesic activity and sedative function Anti-fatigue effects Antitumor activity Amelioration of renal malfunction Immunomodulatory effects Immunoregulatory
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is a synthetic tetrapeptide. Its sequence was derived from research on peptide fractions of bovine pineal extract, and the intact AEDG sequence has not been demonstrated as an abundant free peptide in human tissue.
AEDG is the one-letter code for the four amino acids alanine, glutamate, aspartate and glycine in that order. The same molecule is written in three-letter form as Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly.
Identity is normally confirmed by mass spectrometry against the calculated mass of roughly 390.35 g/mol. Purity is then estimated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.
The molecule lacks aromatic residues, so it absorbs weakly near 280 nanometres, the wavelength applied to many other peptides. The peptide bond absorbs strongly below 220 nanometres, making 214 nanometres a practical compromise. Gradient methods must therefore use mobile phases with low ultraviolet absorbance to keep the baseline clean.