GABA-A receptor is one of those subjects where the details matter more than the headlines. This page pulls together the background, the mechanisms, and the practical points readers ask about most.
Last reviewed on 2026-02-11. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
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.
Development took place at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where a series of short peptides were designed in the 1980s and 1990s. Selank was selected from variants of tuftsin that showed resistance to plasma peptidases. Russian regulatory approval covers it as an anxiolytic agent given intranasally. Outside that market the compound is normally handled as a research chemical rather than a medicine, and no widely recognised international pharmacopoeial monograph exists. The name Selank is a coined trade designation rather than a systematic chemical name.
Lyophilised material kept dry at minus 20 degrees Celsius or colder is the most stable form, and suppliers commonly state a shelf life of two years or more under those conditions. Once dissolved, degradation accelerates through hydrolysis and deamidation, particularly at alkaline pH or elevated temperature. Working solutions are usually divided into single-use aliquots to avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles. The choice of reconstitution solvent affects both stability and the ionic strength of the final preparation.
Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection near 214 nanometres is the standard purity method. Mass spectrometry, typically electrospray ionisation, confirms identity through the expected mass-to-charge pattern. Amino acid analysis can verify composition independently. Chiral purity requires separate techniques such as derivatisation followed by chromatographic separation, and such data are rarely reported for research-grade material.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical class | Synthetic heptapeptide | Tuftsin analogue with a C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro tail |
| Amino acid sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Abbreviated TKPRPGP in most catalogues |
| Molecular mass | About 752 Da | Value for the free peptide |
| Solubility | Freely soluble in water | Aqueous solutions are kept cold and used promptly |
| Typical storage | -20 °C, dry, protected from light | Applies to the lyophilised powder before reconstitution |
Published work on this peptide almost always uses intranasal delivery, with drops or a spray applied to the nasal mucosa. Some animal experiments have used subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection, and a smaller number have compared routes directly. Oral administration is not a focus of the literature, because short peptides of this size are broken down by digestive enzymes and cross intestinal barriers poorly. How much of an intranasal dose reaches the bloodstream intact in humans remains an open question.
Animal studies have examined behaviour in tests of anxiety, memory retention and stress response, and several report changes in neurotrophic or neurotransmitter-related markers. The human evidence base is much smaller, consisting mainly of short trials conducted in Russia with limited reporting in English-language journals. Sample sizes are modest and outcome measures vary between studies, so the findings are best described as preliminary. Independent replication under modern trial standards has not been widely reported.
Outside its country of origin the compound is generally handled as a research chemical rather than an approved medicine. No regulatory approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency has been granted for human use. Identity and purity are normally checked by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, with mass spectrometry used to confirm the molecular mass. Lyophilised material is stored cold and desiccated, and repeated freeze-thaw cycles are avoided.
Proposed mechanisms center on modulation of the GABA system, but no single molecular target has been confirmed. Rodent studies report changes in GABA-A receptor expression and in the turnover of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in several brain regions. Increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor have also been described after repeated administration. These findings come largely from animal models, and the degree to which they describe human neurochemistry remains an open question. The mechanism is best characterized as multi-system and not fully resolved.
Pharmacokinetic data are limited. Like most short peptides, Selank is vulnerable to plasma and tissue peptidases, and its measured half-life in circulation is short, on a minutes scale. The Pro-Gly-Pro tail slows this degradation but does not eliminate it. Intranasal administration is the route described in most reports, with absorption through the nasal mucosa and a hypothesized path into the central nervous system that avoids the blood-brain barrier. Direct measurements of human brain exposure are unavailable, so distribution claims rest on inference from animal work.
Clinical evidence comes mainly from small studies conducted in Russia, several of which were open-label or lacked robust blinding. Reported outcomes include lower anxiety scores, changes in attention measures, and effects on asthenic states following illness. Sample sizes are typically in the tens of participants, and independent replication outside the region is scarce. Reviews published in English generally note the limited methodological quality of the underlying trials. Whether the compound produces clinically meaningful effects under rigorous conditions remains unresolved.
Scott at the University of Chicago tried aqueous pancreatic extracts and noted "a slight diminution of glycosuria", but was unable to convince his director of his work's value; it was shut down. Israel Kleiner demonstrated similar effects at Rockefeller University in 1915, but World War I interrupted his work and he did not return to it. In 1916, Nicolae Paulescu developed an aqueous pancreatic extract which, when injected into a diabetic dog, had a normalizing effect on blood sugar levels. He had to interrupt his experiments because of World War I, and in 1921 he wrote four papers about his work carried out in Bucharest and his tests on a diabetic dog. Later that year, he published "Research on the Role of the Pancreas in Food Assimilation". The name "insulin" was coined by Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer in 1916 for a hypothetical molecule produced by pancreatic islets of Langerhans (Latin insula for islet or island) that controls glucose metabolism. Unbeknown to Sharpey-Schafer, Jean de Meyer had introduced the very similar word "insuline" in 1909 for the same molecule.
Little research has been focused on the suppository (anal insertion), also known as "plugging" or "boofing". These methods of administration are commonly carried out using an oral syringe. Heroin can be dissolved and withdrawn into an oral syringe which may then be lubricated and inserted into the anus or vagina before the plunger is pushed. The rectum or the vaginal canal is where the majority of the drug would likely be taken up, through the membranes lining their walls.
Lipases hydrolyze fats and oils with subsequent release of free fatty acids such as diacylglycerols, monoacylglycerols and glycerol. Lipases have been involved in biotechnology applications because of its ability to catalyze synthetic reactions in non-aqueous solutions. One study has reported the expression of a fungal 11 alpha-steroid hydroxylase from R. oryzae which can be used to perform the 11 alpha-hydroxylation of the steroid skeleton which has simplified steroid drug production.R. oryzae can produce intracellular ribonuclease in a metal ion-regulated liquid medium with the addition of calcium and molybdenum stimulating ribonuclease production. R. oryzae strain ENHE isolated from contaminated soil was found to be capable of tolerating and removing pentachlorophenol. R. oryzae is known to produce L (+)-lactic acid because the fungus cells possess better resistance to high concentration of accumulated lactic acid and lower content of nutrient requirement compared to the commonly used bacterial procedures. Thus, R. oryzae is the most efficient approached to improve lactic acid production process that facilitates multiple reuses of fungal cells for long-term lactic acid production. Ethanol is the main by-product in the fermentation process of R. oryzae during the production of L-lactic acid. R. oryzae can be used as a biocatalyst for ester production in organic solvent. Dry mycelium of four R. oryzae strains proved effective for catalysing the synthesis of different flavor esters.
Over three hundred cases of overdose related to fentanyl and Carfentanil analogues were reported between August and November 2016 in several of the United States, including Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Florida. In 2017, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin man died from a Carfentanil overdose, likely taken unknowingly with another illegal drug such as heroin or cocaine. Carfentanil is most often taken with heroin or by users who believe they are taking heroin.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
This experiment begun by observing that dialyzed (purified) yeast juice could not ferment or even create a sugar phosphate. This mixture was rescued with the addition of undialyzed yeast extract that had been boiled. Boiling the yeast extract renders all proteins inactive (as it denatures them). The ability of boiled extract plus dialyzed juice to complete fermentation suggests that the cofactors were non-protein in character.
"Like typical metals, it [astatine] is precipitated by hydrogen sulfide even from strongly acid solutions and is displaced in a free form from sulfate solutions; it is deposited on the cathode on electrolysis." Further indications of a tendency for astatine to behave like a (heavy) metal are: "... the formation of pseudohalide compounds ... complexes of astatine cations ... complex anions of trivalent astatine ... as well as complexes with a variety of organic solvents". It has also been argued that astatine demonstrates cationic behaviour, by way of stable At+ and AtO+ forms, in strongly acidic aqueous solutions. Some of astatine's reported properties are nonmetallic. It has been extrapolated to have the narrow liquid range ordinarily associated with nonmetals (mp 302 °C; bp 337 °C), although experimental indications suggest a lower boiling point of about 230±3 °C. Batsanov gives a calculated band gap energy for astatine of 0.7 eV; this is consistent with nonmetals (in physics) having separated valence and conduction bands and thereby being either semiconductors or insulators. The chemistry of astatine in aqueous solution is mainly characterised by the formation of various anionic species. Most of its known compounds resemble those of iodine, which is a halogen and a nonmetal. Such compounds include astatides (XAt), astatates (XAtO3), and monovalent interhalogen compounds. Restrepo et al. reported that astatine appeared to be more polonium-like than halogen-like.
Especially the case of the community of Sarayaku has become well known among the Kichwa of the lowlands, who after years of struggle were able to successfully resist expropriation and exploitation of the rain forest for petroleum recovery.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Menu == Salad and Go used fresh natural ingredients. The menu offered eight salads with house-made dressings and a choice of proteins (chicken, steak and tofu). Every salad was available as a wrap. The menu also featured soup and five breakfast burrito options, also available to order as bowls.
Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen discovered NGF in the 1950s while faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis, for which they were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986. The critical preliminary discovery was done by Levi-Montalcini and Hertha Meyer at the Carlos Chagas Filho Biophysics Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1952. Their publication in 1954 became the definitive proof for the existence of the protein. Levi-Montalcini later remarked:The tumor had given a first hint of its existence in St. Louis but it was in Rio de Janeiro that it revealed itself, and it did so in a theatrical and grand way, as if spurred by the bright atmosphere of that explosive and exhuberant manifestation of life that is the Carnival in Rio.However, its discovery, along with the discovery of other neurotrophins, was not widely recognized until 1986, when it won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Studies in 1971 determined the primary structure of NGF. This eventually led to the discovery of the NGF gene. NGF is abundant in seminal plasma. Recent studies have found that it induces ovulation in some mammals. Nerve Growth Factors (NGF) were initially discovered due to their actions during development, but NGF are now known to be involved in the function throughout the life of the animal.
The United States Food and Drug Administration's Investigational New Drug (IND) program is the means by which a pharmaceutical company obtains permission to start human clinical trials and to ship an experimental drug across state lines (usually to clinical investigators) before a marketing application for the drug has been approved. Regulations are primarily at 21 CFR 312. Similar procedures are followed in the European Union, Japan, and Canada due to regulatory harmonization efforts by the International Council for Harmonisation.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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.
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.
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.
Dry powder is best kept sealed, protected from light, and held at minus 20 degrees Celsius or below. Desiccant packaging helps limit moisture uptake because the material is hygroscopic. A sealed vial should be allowed to equilibrate to room temperature before opening to reduce condensation.