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Background And Molecular Identity — Quick Reference

By Editorial Desk · published 2026-04-01 · last reviewed 2026-04-25 · Info

heptapeptide comes up often in conversation and rarely with the context attached. Here we lay out the basics in order, then work through the practical considerations.

Updated 2026-04-25. Numbers and descriptions here follow the published literature rather than marketing material.

Background and Molecular Identity

Enzymatic stability motivates the extra three residues at the carboxyl end. Native tuftsin is cleaved quickly by circulating aminopeptidases and carboxypeptidases, which limits its duration of action and its usefulness as a tool compound. Extending the chain with proline-rich segments is a common design tactic because proline constrains the backbone and slows proteolysis. The same Pro-Gly-Pro motif appears in other Russian-developed peptides of the era. Whether the full seven-residue chain is required for activity, or whether it acts mainly as a prodrug releasing tuftsin, remains unresolved.

Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. Its four N-terminal residues reproduce tuftsin, a tetrapeptide fragment of the immunoglobulin heavy chain, while the C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro extension is a synthetic addition. The peptide has a molecular mass near 752 daltons and carries a net positive charge at physiological pH because of the arginine and lysine side chains. Published indexes list it under the name Selank and the sequence abbreviation TKPRPGP. Solid-phase peptide synthesis is the standard production route for research quantities.

Selank Handling, Stability, and Analysis

Once dissolved, the peptide is markedly less stable than the dry powder. Aqueous solutions are subject to backbone hydrolysis and to microbial growth when they are handled without sterile technique. Buffered solutions near neutral pH are common for short-term laboratory work, while acidic conditions are sometimes used to improve solubility. Analytical laboratories generally prepare working solutions fresh rather than storing them, and a residual water film left in a reopened vial can seed degradation even when the container appears dry.

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography is the standard technique for estimating peptide purity. The result is a peak-area percentage, which describes how much of the detected material elutes as the main peak in one run. Mass spectrometry confirms the molecular mass and can reveal truncated, adducted, or otherwise modified species. Amino acid analysis or tandem mass spectrometry can address sequence fidelity when identity is in doubt. None of these measurements, taken alone, establishes that a sample is fit for any specific purpose.

Lyophilized selank is normally supplied as a dry powder and is considered stable for extended periods when kept cold and dry. Moisture uptake is the main practical threat, because absorbed water promotes both hydrolysis and aggregation in the solid state. Vials are usually warmed to room temperature before opening so that condensation does not form on the powder. Supplier documentation commonly specifies -20 °C for routine storage, with -80 °C used for material intended to be archived for years.

Selank at a glance

PropertyValueNotes
Chemical classSynthetic heptapeptideTuftsin analogue with a C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro tail
Amino acid sequenceThr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-ProAbbreviated TKPRPGP in most catalogues
Molecular massAbout 752 DaValue for the free peptide
SolubilityFreely soluble in waterAqueous solutions are kept cold and used promptly
Typical storage-20 °C, dry, protected from lightApplies to the lyophilised powder before reconstitution

Selank Origin and Chemical Identity

Regulatory status differs sharply by region. Selank holds a Russian marketing authorization, where it is supplied mainly as nasal drops, while authorities elsewhere have not approved it for medical use. Material sold internationally is therefore usually labeled as a research chemical rather than a medicine. Peer-reviewed publications come predominantly from Russian laboratories, and sample sizes are generally small. Whether the compound produces comparable effects under independent, well-controlled replication remains an open question that the broader literature has not settled.

Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide developed in Russia as a structural analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. Its sequence, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, keeps the tuftsin core at the N-terminus and appends a Pro-Gly-Pro tail. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow synthesized the compound during the 1990s while searching for peptides with combined anxiolytic and immunomodulatory activity. The added tail was intended to resist enzymatic cleavage and prolong the molecule's presence in circulation.

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Peptide Identity and Structure

Selank is not a naturally occurring peptide and has no known endogenous counterpart in human physiology. Russian-language sources frequently call it TP-7, while English-language sources use the name Selank almost exclusively. Database indexing is uneven, partly because early reports appeared in regional journals that are not widely cataloged. Some summaries describe the material as a tuftsin analog and others as a synthetic heptapeptide; the labels overlap rather than conflict. Citing the primary sequence resolves ambiguity more reliably than the research or trade name alone.

Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, written TKPRPGP in one-letter notation. Its structure consists of the immunomodulatory tetrapeptide tuftsin, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg, extended at the carboxyl terminus by a Pro-Gly-Pro segment. The molecular formula is commonly given as C33H57N11O9, corresponding to a monoisotopic mass near 751.4 Da and an average molecular mass near 751.9 Da. All seven residues are proteinogenic amino acids, and the molecule carries no modified side chains or non-natural linkages.

Identity and Structural Background

Naming for this compound is not fully standardised in English sources. The spelling Selanc appears in some transliterations, and catalogue entries may instead list the peptide sequence itself as the identifier. Reference material sometimes groups it with other short synthetic peptides studied for behavioural effects, which can create confusion when citations are compared. Distinguishing the exact sequence from related tuftsin analogues is therefore a practical first step when reviewing any dataset or specification sheet.

Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, frequently abbreviated as TKPRPGP. It was designed as a structural analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring tetrapeptide released by enzymatic cleavage of the immunoglobulin heavy chain. The two additional proline residues at the C-terminal end extend the parent chain and change how the molecule behaves in solution. The free peptide has a calculated molecular mass of approximately 751.9 g/mol and is generally supplied as a lyophilised white to off-white powder.

Development work on the compound began in the 1980s and 1990s at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow, within the same research programme that produced the peptide Semax. Early investigators sought a tuftsin derivative with improved resistance to enzymatic breakdown and with activity in the central nervous system after peripheral administration. Most of the primary literature from this period was published in Russian, a factor that still shapes how easily the findings can be checked by outside groups.

Reference notes

{\displaystyle u(r,t)={\frac {G}{4\mu }}\left(R^{2}-r^{2}\right)+[\alpha F_{2}+\beta (F_{1}-1)]{\frac {\cos \omega t}{\rho \omega }}+[\beta F_{2}-\alpha (F_{1}-1)]{\frac {\sin \omega t}{\rho \omega }}}

Middleton is dyslexic. He read from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible at the 2011 wedding of his sister Catherine to Prince William. In 2019, he disclosed his struggles with depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which he attributed to public scrutiny from age 23 as a result of his eldest sister's relationship. He sought treatment in 2017, undertaking cognitive behavioral therapy. Middleton also spent "restorative time" at the Glen Affric Estate, where he has hosted deer-stalking parties. The estate is owned by his sister Philippa's father-in-law. In the same year, he penned a column in the Daily Mail about mental health. Middleton is an ambassador for the Pets As Therapy charity and has credited his dog, Ella, for helping him through his depression. He breeds dogs, owning six, as well as one rescue lamb. Middleton also keeps bees on the grounds of Bucklebury Manor. In April 2020, he founded the Paw Print Fund in aid of animal welfare charities. Middleton was in a relationship with actress Donna Air from 2013 to 2018. Middleton met French financial analyst Alizée Thevenet (b. 30 November 1989) in 2018. She is the daughter of retired diplomat Jean-Gabriel Thevenet. Middleton and Alizée announced their engagement in September 2019. On 11th September 2021, Alizée's mother, along with James's family, attended the wedding in the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas in the south of France where Alizée's family lives. Alizée's father had died some months before the wedding.

=== Perioperative === Perioperative hyperglycemia has been associated with immunosuppression, increased infections, osmotic diuresis, delayed wound healing, delayed gastric emptying, sympatho-adrenergic stimulation, and increased mortality. In addition, it reduces skin graft success, exacerbates brain, spinal cord, and renal damage by ischemia, worsens neurologic outcomes in traumatic head injuries, and is associated with postoperative cognitive dysfunction following CABG.

==== Myelopathy ==== Copper deficiency myelopathy in humans was discovered and first described by Schleper and Stuerenburg in 2001. They described a patient with a history of gastrectomy and partial colonic resection who presented with severe tetraparesis and painful paraesthesias and who was found on imaging to have dorsomedial cervical cord T2 hyperintensity. Upon further analysis, it was found that the patient had decreased levels of serum coeruloplasmin, serum copper, and CSF copper. The patient was treated with parenteral copper and the patient's paraesthesias did resolve. Since this discovery, awareness of copper-deficiency myelopathy and its treatment has increased. Patients typically present difficulty walking (gait difficulty) caused by sensory ataxia (irregular muscle coordination) due to dorsal column dysfunction or degeneration of the spinal cord (myelopathy). Patients with ataxic gait have problems balancing and display an unstable wide walk. They often feel tremors in their torso, causing sideways jerks and lunges. In brain MRI, there is often an increased T2 signalling at the posterior columns of the spinal cord in patients with myelopathy caused by copper deficiency. T2 signalling is often an indicator of neurodegeneration. There are some changes in the spinal cord MRI involving the thoracic cord, the cervical cord, or sometimes both. Copper deficiency myelopathy is often compared to subacute combined degeneration (SCD).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Notes from published material

==== USP14/UBP6 ==== In contrast to Rpn11, USP14 and UCH37 are the DUBs that do not always associated with the proteasome and are not essential for ubiquitin dependent degradation. Instead, these DUBs are proposed to "edit" the ubiquitin code of a substrate that is already engaged with the proteasome. In cells, about 10-40% of the proteasomes were found to have USP14 associated. Ubp6/USP14 is a member of the Ubiquitin Specific Protease (USP) family, utilizing a catalytic cysteine to cleave ubiquitin. Along with the USP, Ubp6/USP14 contains a Ubiquitin-like protein (UBL) that binds the proteasome. Ubp6/USP14 is largely activated by the proteasome and exhibit a very low DUB activity alone. Once activated, USP14 was found to suppress proteasome function by its DUB activity and by inducing parallel pathways of proteasome conformational transitions, one of which turned out to directly prohibit substrate insertion into the AAA-ATPase, as first observed biochemically and later confirmed by time-resolved cryogenic electron microscopy. It appears that USP14 regulates proteasome function at multiple checkpoints by both catalytically competing with Rpn11 and allosterically reprogramming the AAA-ATPase states, which is rather unexpected for a DUB. These observations imply that the proteasome regulation may depend on its dynamic transitions of conformational states.

β-catenin recruits other transcriptional coactivators, such as BCL9, Pygopus and Parafibromin/Hyrax. The complexity of the transcriptional complex assembled by β-catenin is beginning to emerge thanks to new high-throughput proteomics studies. However, a unified theory of how β‐catenin drives target gene expression is still missing, and tissue-specific players might assist β‐catenin to define its target genes. The extensivity of the β-catenin interacting proteins complicates our understanding: β-catenin may be directly phosphorylated at Ser552 by Akt, which causes its disassociation from cell-cell contacts and accumulation in cytosol, thereafter 14-3-3ζ interacts with β-catenin (pSer552) and enhances its nuclear translocation. BCL9 and Pygopus have been reported, in fact, to possess several β-catenin-independent functions (therefore, likely, Wnt signaling-independent).

One of Proudhon's keenest students was the Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin, who adopted his critiques of private property and government, as well as his views on the desirability of anarchy. During the Revolutions of 1848, Bakunin wrote of his hopes of igniting a revolutionary upheaval in the Russian Empire, writing to the German poet Georg Herwegh that "I do not fear anarchy, but desire it with all my heart". Although he still used the negative definition of anarchy as disorder, he nevertheless saw the need for "something different: passion and life and a new world, lawless and thereby free." Bakunin popularised "anarchy" as a term, using both its negative and positive definitions, in order to respectively describe the disorderly destruction of revolution and the construction of a new social order in the post-revolutionary society. Bakunin envisioned the creation of an "International Brotherhood", which could lead people through "the thick of popular anarchy" in a social revolution. Upon joining the IWA, in 1869, Bakunin drew up a programme for such a Brotherhood, in which he infused the word "anarchy" with a more positive connotation. He declared: "We do not fear anarchy, we invoke it. For we are convinced that anarchy, meaning the unrestricted manifestation of the liberated life of the people, must spring from liberty, equality, the new social order, and the force of the revolution itself against the reaction."

No clinical symptoms. Pulp will respond to sensitivity tests as a healthy pulp would. Treatments include root canal or tooth extraction. In endodontic therapy, removal of the inflamed pulp relieves the pain. The empty root canal system is then obturated with gutta-percha (rubber material that acts as a pressure/pain reliever).

== Personal life == High is married to George Steele, an internist who was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She has three children, one of whom is actress Sarah Steele.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Frequently asked questions

What is Selank chemically?

Selank is a seven-amino-acid peptide built from the tuftsin sequence plus a Pro-Gly-Pro tail. It is produced by chemical synthesis rather than extracted from a natural source. The free peptide is usually supplied as a lyophilised powder or in an aqueous formulation.

How does Selank relate to tuftsin?

Tuftsin is a natural tetrapeptide derived from the Fc portion of immunoglobulin G. Selank retains that tetrapeptide at its N-terminus and adds three residues to improve resistance to enzymatic breakdown. The relationship is structural, and the two molecules are not interchangeable in experimental work.

Is Selank an approved medicine?

It holds a product registration in Russia for intranasal use as an anxiolytic. Registrations of that kind are not automatically accepted by regulators elsewhere. In most other countries it is treated as an unapproved substance or a research material.

How should selank powder be stored?

Sealed, desiccated storage at -20 °C or colder is the standard recommendation for research-grade material. Vials should reach room temperature before they are opened, which limits condensation. Repeated temperature cycling is discouraged.

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