Neurotrophic Research
Research Only
P21 (Without Adamantane)
Also known as: Ac-DGGL-NH2, Peptide 6c, P6c
Four-amino-acid CNTF fragment (Ac-DGGL-NH2), the parent of P021 without the adamantyl group. Studied in one published mouse study.
Research overview
This compound is the short peptide behind P021 without the adamantyl-glycine group. In the published literature the closest match is Peptide 6c (Ac-DGGL-NH2), a four-amino-acid fragment of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), a growth factor for nerve cells. Khalid Iqbal's group in New York identified it as the smallest active part of a longer CNTF-based peptide, then added an adamantyl-glycine to help it cross into the brain, which produced P021. Almost all later research uses P021, not this unmodified form.
Peptide 6c itself appears in one published study: normal adult mice treated with it had more new nerve cells in the hippocampus, higher levels of synapse marker proteins and better scores in a spatial memory test than controls (Blanchard et al., J Alzheimers Dis 2010). The evidence is therefore very thin: one mouse study from the developing group, not independently repeated, and no human studies. How much of the unmodified peptide reaches the brain, how long it lasts in the body and its safety are not known, and results from P021 studies should not be assumed to apply to it. Supplied for laboratory research use only.
Mechanism of action
Peptide 6c is a fragment of the region of CNTF that the developers mapped as biologically active. In their mouse study it was linked to more new nerve cells and higher levels of synapse marker proteins in the hippocampus, but we found no separate study of its receptor or signalling pathway. The LIF and BDNF mechanism described for P021 comes from studies of the adamantane-modified form and its parent peptide.