Neurotrophic Research
Research Only
Pinealon
Also known as: Pinealon bioregulator, Glu-Asp-Arg, EDR peptide
Pinealon is a synthetic tripeptide (Glu-Asp-Arg) from the Khavinson short-peptide programme, studied mainly in brain and nerve cell research.
Research overview
Pinealon is a synthetic tripeptide (three amino acids: Glu-Asp-Arg, also written EDR) from Khavinson's short-peptide programme at the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology. Despite its name, most published work is on brain and nerve cells rather than the pineal gland. In cultured rat brain cells and other cell lines exposed to oxidative stress, it was reported to limit the build-up of reactive oxygen species (unstable oxygen molecules) and the number of dying cells (Khavinson et al., 2011). In a rat study, pregnant rats were fed extra methionine to raise homocysteine, and the offspring of those also given Pinealon scored better on spatial learning tests than offspring of untreated rats (Arutjunyan et al., 2012). Human reports come from other Russian centres and are small, for example a study of 32 adults aged 41 to 83 measuring markers of biological age, with no placebo group described.
Most laboratory studies come from one research network and have not been independently repeated. There are no published randomised placebo-controlled trials. How it behaves in the body, long-term safety and whether the animal findings apply to people are not known. Supplied for laboratory research use only.
Mechanism of action
No specific receptor has been identified for Pinealon. In cell studies it limited the build-up of reactive oxygen species and delayed activation of ERK 1/2, a growth-signalling pathway, which the authors took as a sign that it acts on the cell's genes as well as on oxidative stress (Khavinson et al., 2011). Labelled Pinealon was seen entering the nucleus of human cells grown in the lab, and in test tubes it bound short DNA fragments (Fedoreyeva et al., 2011). These findings come from cell and test-tube work.