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Epithalon (Epitalon) — Synthetic Tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG) | Telomerase and hTERT Research Compound

Research-Grade Compound

Epithalon (also spelled Epitalon) is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the amino acid sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, abbreviated AEDG. Molecular formula C14H22N4O9, molecular weight 390.3 Da, CAS 307297-39-8. Four residues makes it one of the smallest peptides in research circulation — smaller than GHK-Cu, and roughly a twelfth the mass of TB-500.

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Certificate Details

Purity≥99%

Methodology

HPLCLC-MS/MS

CAS Number307297-39-8

Molecular FormulaC14H22N4O9

Molecular Weight390.3 g/mol

SequenceAla-Glu-Asp-Gly (tetrapeptide)

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This Certificate of Analysis was issued by an independent third-party laboratory. Peptide.Express does not conduct in-house testing. Results are provided as-is from the testing facility and confirm batch identity, purity, and analytical methodology. For questions about specific CoA results, contact [email protected].

≥99% by HPLCLC-MS/MS VerifiedCoA Every BatchIn-Vitro Research Use Only

What is Epithalon?

It did not start life as a designed molecule. Epithalon is the synthetic distillate of epithalamin, a crude polypeptide extract prepared from bovine pineal gland and studied from the late 1970s onward by Vladimir Khavinson and colleagues at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology. The working hypothesis was that the pineal gland releases short regulatory peptides that influence the pace of aging; AEDG was identified as the fragment carrying the activity, and synthesizing it removed the batch-to-batch variability that makes any tissue extract difficult to study.

Here is the part most vendor pages leave out. Nearly the entire telomerase literature on Epithalon originates from that same St. Petersburg group, and independent replication outside it is thin. The in-vitro finding that AEDG induces hTERT expression in human somatic cells is interesting and reasonably consistent within its source, but a mechanism supported largely by one laboratory over several decades sits in a different evidentiary category than one replicated across competing groups. Researchers designing around Epithalon should treat the telomerase story as a hypothesis worth testing rather than settled biology.

How Does Epithalon Work? Mechanism of Action

The mechanism most often attributed to Epithalon is upregulation of hTERT — human telomerase reverse transcriptase, the catalytic protein subunit of the telomerase holoenzyme. Telomerase extends chromosome ends by adding TTAGGG hexanucleotide repeats, offsetting the progressive telomere attrition that occurs each time a somatic cell divides. Cells that exhaust their telomere reserve stop dividing, which is the replicative limit Hayflick described in 1961. In cultured human somatic cells, AEDG exposure has been associated with recovered telomerase activity and delayed onset of replicative senescence.

How a four-residue peptide produces that effect is unresolved. No receptor for AEDG has been identified. The proposal advanced by the Khavinson group is direct interaction with DNA — that short peptides of this class bind specific promoter sequences and modulate transcription, a model sometimes described as peptide-gene regulation. It is a testable idea, and molecular docking work has been published in support of it, but there is no crystallographic or ChIP-level evidence that would make it conventional. Anyone citing a mechanism for Epithalon should say which model they are citing.

The pineal arm of the research is older than the telomerase arm and, in some respects, better grounded. Epithalon was developed as a pineal-regulating peptide, and studies report effects on melatonin synthesis and on expression of circadian clock genes including Clock, Csnk1e and Cry2. Antioxidant enzyme upregulation appears in the same literature. Whether the circadian and telomere effects are two readouts of a single upstream event or two unrelated observations has not been demonstrated either way, though melatonin itself has independent published effects on telomere maintenance in cell models, which makes a link plausible.

The pharmacokinetic question is the one that most often goes unasked. AEDG is small, highly polar, carries two acidic side chains, and has no protecting modification at either terminus. Plasma peptidases clear molecules like this in minutes. For the nuclear transcription model to operate in an intact organism, an intact tetrapeptide has to reach a nucleus — and no published pharmacokinetic study establishes that it does. In-vitro work sidesteps the problem by applying the peptide directly to the culture medium, which is worth remembering when reading across from a cell result to a whole-animal claim.

Research Applications of Epithalon

Telomere and Telomerase Research

hTERT expression assays: quantitative PCR for hTERT transcript level in treated somatic cell lines is the direct mechanistic readout, and the one the original claims rest on.
TRAP (telomeric repeat amplification protocol) activity measurement: enzymatic telomerase activity, which is a separate question from transcript abundance and does not always track it.
Replicative lifespan studies: population doubling counts in human fibroblast cultures carried to senescence, with telomere restriction fragment length as the structural endpoint.

Circadian and Pineal Signalling Models

Clock gene expression panels: Clock, Csnk1e and Cry2 transcript profiling in pinealocyte and peripheral tissue models.
Melatonin synthesis endpoints: AANAT and ASMT enzyme activity, which sit upstream of melatonin output and give a cleaner readout than melatonin concentration alone.
Age-associated rhythm flattening: comparing amplitude of circadian gene oscillation between young and aged animal tissue is the standard preparation in the pineal-peptide literature.

Cellular Senescence and Oxidative Stress Models

Senescence-associated beta-galactosidase staining: the conventional cytochemical marker for cells that have exited the cycle.
Antioxidant enzyme activity: superoxide dismutase and catalase levels in aged cell preparations, reported alongside lipid peroxidation products.
Comparative peptide screens: AEDG is frequently run against other short regulatory peptides from the same research programme, which is useful for ranking activity but does not substitute for an independent replication.

Epithalon vs Epithalamin

Feature	Epithalon (Epitalon)	Epithalamin
Identity	Synthetic tetrapeptide, Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly	Crude polypeptide extract of bovine pineal gland
Composition	Single defined molecule	Mixture of peptides of varying length
Molecular weight	390.3 Da	Not definable — heterogeneous mixture
Molecular formula	C14H22N4O9	Not applicable
CAS number	307297-39-8	None assigned
Source	Solid-phase peptide synthesis	Animal tissue extraction
Batch reproducibility	High — verified by HPLC and LC-MS/MS	Low — composition varies with source tissue
Bovine material risk	None (fully synthetic)	Present — animal-derived preparation
Which came first	Derived from the extract in the 1980s	Studied from the late 1970s
Current research availability	Widely available as a research compound	Effectively unavailable outside historical literature

Epithalon exists because epithalamin was impossible to study rigorously. You cannot attribute an effect to a molecule when your preparation is a tissue extract of unknown composition. Isolating AEDG and synthesizing it gave the research programme a defined molecule with a molecular weight, a CAS number and a reproducible batch — which is exactly why older epithalamin findings cannot be read directly onto Epithalon without re-testing.

Epithalon Technical Specifications

Technical specifications for Epithalon, including molecular data, purity standard, testing methods and storage requirements.
Compound Name	Epithalon (Epitalon)
Common Synonyms	Epitalon, Epithalone, AEDG peptide, Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly tetrapeptide
IUPAC Name	L-Alanyl-L-alpha-glutamyl-L-alpha-aspartyl-glycine
Amino Acid Sequence	Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG)
Amino Acid Count	4 (tetrapeptide)
CAS Number	307297-39-8
Molecular Formula	C14H22N4O9
Molecular Weight	390.3 Da
Parent Preparation	Epithalamin (bovine pineal polypeptide extract)
Research Target	hTERT expression, telomerase activity, circadian clock genes
Purity	≥99% by HPLC
Purity Confirmation	LC-MS/MS molecular weight verification
Endotoxin Testing	LAL (Limulus Amebocyte Lysate) method
Physical Form	Lyophilized powder
Appearance	White to off-white powder
Reconstitution	Bacteriostatic water or sterile 0.9% sodium chloride
Storage (lyophilized)	-20°C, desiccated, protected from light
Storage (reconstituted)	2–8°C, use within 14–28 days
Shelf Life	24 months from manufacture (lyophilized)
Testing Methods	HPLC, LC-MS/MS, LAL Endotoxin
Documentation	Certificate of Analysis (CoA) per batch
FDA Status	Not approved for human use; not a scheduled substance
Intended Use	In-vitro laboratory research only

How to Reconstitute Epithalon for Research

Epithalon vials are usually small in mass — 10 mg is a common size — and the lyophilized cake can be almost invisible against the bottom of the vial. Do not assume an empty-looking vial is a short-fill. Add the diluent and watch the cake go; at 390.3 Da this peptide dissolves fast, often before you finish swirling.

Bring the vial to room temperature before opening. Condensation on cold glass is the most common source of contamination at this step.
Draw the calculated volume of bacteriostatic water. For a 10 mg vial, 2 mL yields 5 mg/mL; for the 50 mg vial, 5 mL yields 10 mg/mL.
Swab the septum with 70% isopropyl alcohol and give it 30 seconds to dry. Wet alcohol carried into the vial on the needle is not sterilising anything.
Angle the needle and run the diluent slowly down the inner wall rather than firing it into the cake. Foaming denatures peptide at the air-liquid interface.
Swirl gently. AEDG goes into solution quickly — if anything is still visible after 60 seconds, keep swirling rather than shaking.
Check that the solution is clear and colorless. Any cloudiness, discoloration or visible particulate means discard.
Label with the reconstitution date and the resulting concentration in mg/mL.
Store at 2–8°C and use within 14–28 days. Do not freeze the reconstituted solution or subject it to repeated thaw cycles.

Diluent: bacteriostatic water for peptide reconstitution. Full protocol: step-by-step peptide reconstitution guide. Concentration maths: peptide reconstitution calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions — Epithalon

What is Epithalon (Epitalon) peptide?

Epithalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG), molecular formula C14H22N4O9, molecular weight 390.3 Da, CAS 307297-39-8. It is the synthetic form of the active fragment identified in epithalamin, a pineal gland extract studied by Khavinson and colleagues at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology. It is sold for in-vitro laboratory research use only.

Is Epithalon the same as Epitalon?

Yes. Two spellings of one molecule — the difference is transliteration from Russian, nothing more. You will also see Epithalone. All three refer to Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly.

What does Epithalon do to telomeres in research models?

The reported mechanism is induction of hTERT expression, the catalytic subunit of telomerase. Telomerase adds TTAGGG repeats to chromosome ends and offsets the shortening that accompanies each round of somatic cell division. In cultured human fibroblasts, AEDG exposure has been associated with recovered telomerase activity and extended replicative lifespan. The caveat matters as much as the finding: most of this work traces to a single research group and has seen limited independent replication.

What is hTERT and why does Epithalon affect it?

hTERT is human telomerase reverse transcriptase — the protein component of telomerase and the rate-limiting part of the enzyme. Most somatic cells silence hTERT after development, which is why they lose telomere length with each division. The claim about Epithalon is that it de-represses hTERT transcription. The proposed route is direct peptide-DNA interaction at the promoter, which is a specific and unusual mechanism, and not one that has been confirmed by structural work.

What is the difference between Epithalon and epithalamin?

Epithalamin is a crude polypeptide extract of bovine pineal gland — a mixture of unknown composition. Epithalon is a single synthetic tetrapeptide, Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, isolated as the fragment believed to carry the activity. One has a molecular weight and a CAS number; the other does not. Findings from the epithalamin era should not be assumed to transfer to the defined peptide without re-testing.

What is the amino acid sequence of Epithalon?

Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, written AEDG in one-letter notation. Four residues, no terminal modification, molecular weight 390.3 Da.

Can Epithalon affect melatonin in research models?

It was developed as a pineal-regulating peptide, and effects on melatonin synthesis and on circadian clock gene expression — Clock, Csnk1e, Cry2 — appear across the same body of literature as the telomerase work. In aged animal models the reported effect is restoration of rhythm amplitude rather than a raw increase in melatonin output, which is a different endpoint and should be measured as such.

How strong is the evidence base for Epithalon?

Weaker than the volume of published pages suggests. The telomerase and anti-aging literature comes overwhelmingly from Khavinson and colleagues at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, much of it published in Russian-language journals or in venues with limited international readership, and independent laboratories have not replicated the central hTERT finding at scale. Add to that the absence of any pharmacokinetic study showing that an unmodified tetrapeptide survives long enough to reach a nucleus in vivo. None of that makes the findings wrong. It does mean a research design should include the controls needed to test the claim rather than assume it.

Is Epithalon FDA-approved?

No. Epithalon is not approved by the FDA for any indication and does not appear in the FDA drug approval database. It is not a controlled substance in the United States. Peptide.Express supplies it for in-vitro laboratory research only.

How do I reconstitute a 10 mg Epithalon vial?

Add 2 mL of bacteriostatic water for 5 mg/mL, or 5 mL for 2 mg/mL. Run the diluent down the inner wall, swirl gently rather than shaking, and expect fast dissolution — at 390.3 Da this is one of the quickest peptides in the catalog to go into solution. Store the result at 2–8°C and use within 14–28 days.

What purity standard does Peptide.Express use for Epithalon?

≥99% by reverse-phase HPLC, with LC-MS/MS confirming the 390.3 Da mass. Small peptides are easy to synthesize and correspondingly easy to sell with deletion sequences present, so the mass confirmation on the Certificate of Analysis is the field worth reading — a missing glycine would show up as a 57 Da shift.

How should Epithalon be stored before and after reconstitution?

Lyophilized at -20°C, desiccated and protected from light, stable for 24 months from manufacture. Once reconstituted, at 2–8°C for 14–28 days without freezing.

Where is the Certificate of Analysis for Epithalon?

On this page and in the Peptide.Express lab results library. Each CoA is batch-specific and lists HPLC purity by area under curve, LC-MS/MS mass confirmation, endotoxin result, testing laboratory and test date.

Research References

Khavinson VKh, Bondarev IE, Butyugov AA. "Epithalon Peptide Induces Telomerase Activity and Telomere Elongation in Human Somatic Cells." Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2003. Read the Khavinson 2003 Epithalon telomerase induction study
Khavinson VKh, Bondarev IE, Butyugov AA, Smirnova TD. "Peptide Promotes Overcoming of the Division Limit in Human Somatic Cells." Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, 2004. Read the Khavinson 2004 replicative senescence delay study on PubMed
Ivko OM, Linkova NS, Ilina AR, Sharova AA, Ryzhak GA. "AEDG Peptide Regulates Human Circadian Rhythm Genes Expression during Pineal Gland Accelerated Aging." Advances in Gerontology (Uspekhi Gerontologii). 2020. Read the Ivko 2020 AEDG peptide circadian gene expression study
FDA drug approvals and databases: the authoritative record of approved drug products in the United States. Epithalon does not appear in it, which is the primary source behind the regulatory statement on this page. Search the FDA drug approval databases

All products are sold for in-vitro laboratory research use only. Not intended for human consumption, clinical use, or veterinary use. Peptide.Express makes no medical claims. Consult the published literature for research application guidance.