intranasal delivery 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.
Last reviewed on 2026-06-07. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
The compound was designed at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences during the 1980s and 1990s. The stated design goal was to retain the immunomodulatory and central nervous system activity attributed to tuftsin while improving resistance to enzymatic breakdown. Adding a proline-rich tail to the short parent peptide was a deliberate strategy, because proline residues restrict the conformations available to many peptidases. The same laboratory produced Semax, an ACTH fragment analog, and both compounds were developed in parallel as short, enzymatically stabilized peptides intended for intranasal use.
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.
Quality assessment of Selank samples typically combines purity determination with identity confirmation and counter-ion analysis. Purity is usually reported as a percentage by chromatographic area, with values above 95 percent often quoted for research-grade material. Water content and residual solvents are checked in lyophilized batches because they affect both stability and accurate mass determination. A reported purity figure does not by itself establish that a sample is the intended sequence, so orthogonal methods are needed to rule out sequence isomers or truncation products.
Characterization of Selank in laboratory settings relies on standard peptide analytical techniques. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography separates the peptide from related impurities and degradation products, while mass spectrometry confirms molecular identity through accurate mass measurement. Amino acid analysis and peptide sequencing verify the primary structure when reference material is unavailable. Because Selank is a short chain, fragmentation-based analysis produces a diagnostic ion pattern that supports confident identification.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peptide sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Seven residues; tuftsin plus a Pro-Gly-Pro tail |
| Molecular formula | C33H57N11O9 | Commonly reported value for the free peptide |
| Monoisotopic mass | Roughly 751.4 Da | Average molecular mass near 751.9 Da |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typically supplied as a lyophilized solid |
| Solubility class | Freely soluble in water | Also dissolves in saline and other polar solvents |
Pharmacokinetic data are sparse and largely derived from animal work. After intranasal administration the peptide appears in plasma within minutes, and reported half-lives are short, on the order of minutes to tens of minutes. Degradation proceeds through ordinary proteolytic cleavage into constituent amino acids and smaller fragments. Direct evidence that intact Selank reaches brain tissue in meaningful amounts is limited, and the extent of blood-brain barrier penetration is debated. Some authors argue that fragments, not the parent peptide, carry much of the observed activity.
Published clinical work is concentrated in Russian-language journals and generally involves small samples without independent replication. Systematic reviews in English note the shortage of randomised, placebo-controlled trials and the difficulty of verifying methods from translated reports. Outcome measures vary between studies, which complicates pooling of results. Interest in the compound as a cognitive or anxiolytic agent therefore rests on a thinner evidence base than the volume of citations suggests. Replication in well-powered trials with preregistered endpoints would be needed before firm conclusions about efficacy can be drawn.
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.
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.
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.
A white coat ceremony is a relatively new ritual that marks one's entrance into medical school and, more recently, into a number of health-related schools and professions. It originated at University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine in 1989 and involves a formal "robing" or "cloaking" in white lab coats.
Polycarbodiimides can also be used as crosslinkers for aqueous resins, such as polyurethane dispersions or acrylic dispersion. Here the polycarbodiimide reacts with carboxylic acids, whose functional groups are often present in such aqueous resins, to form N-acyl urea. The result is the formation of covalent bonds between the polymer chains, making them crosslinked.
Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis, characterized by the development of atheromatous plaques in the walls of arteries. This is a chronic inflammatory disease involving many different cell types and is driven by elevated blood levels of cholesterol, primarily LDL. These lesions lead to narrowing of the arteries. At the onset, there are usually no symptoms, but if they develop, symptoms generally begin around middle age. In severe cases, it can result in coronary artery disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, or kidney disorders, depending on the body part(s) in which the affected arteries are located. The exact cause of atherosclerosis is unknown and is proposed to be multifactorial. Risk factors include abnormal cholesterol levels, elevated levels of inflammatory biomarkers, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking (both active and passive smoking), obesity, genetic factors, family history, lifestyle habits, and an unhealthy diet. Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, immune cells, calcium, and other substances found in the blood. The narrowing of arteries limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood to parts of the body. Diagnosis is based upon a physical exam, electrocardiogram, and exercise stress test, among others, depending on the affected artery or arteries. Prevention guidelines include eating a healthy diet, exercising, not smoking, and maintaining a normal body weight.
== Disease == In people with lung diseases, heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, immune disorders, and periodontal disease, the interstitial fluid and lymph system are sites where disease mechanisms may develop. Interstitial fluid flow is associated with the migration of cancer cells to metastatic sites. The enhanced permeability and retention effects refers to increased interstitial flow causing a neutral or reversed pressure differential between blood vessels and healthy tissue, limiting the distribution of intravenous drugs to tumors, which under other circumstances display a high-pressure gradient at their periphery. Changes in interstitial volume and pressure play critical roles in the onset of conditions like shock and inflammation. During hypovolemic shock, digestive enzymes and inflammatory agents diffuse to the interstitial space, then drain into the mesenteric lymphatic system and enter into circulation, contributing to systemic inflammation. Accumulating fluid in the interstitial space (interstitial edema) is caused by increased microvascular pressure and permeability, a positive feedback loop mechanism resulting in an associated in increasing the rate of microvascular filtration into the interstitial space. Decreased lymphatic drainage due to blockage can compound these effects. Interstitial edema can prevent oxygen diffusion across tissue and in the brain, kidney and intestines lead to the onset of compartment syndrome.
239Pu(16O,xn)255−xNo This reaction was first studied in 1958 at the FLNR. The team were able to measure ~8.8 MeV alpha particles with a half-life of 30 s and assigned to253,252,251102. A repeat in 1960 was unsuccessful and it was concluded the first results were probably associated with background effects.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Even a small, underdeveloped rattle early in the evolution of the rattling system could have been advantageous if tail vibration was an ancestral behavior. At birth, a "prebutton" is present at the tip of the snake's tail; it is replaced by the "button" several days later when the first skin is shed. However, no sound can be made by the rattle until a second segment is added when the skin is shed again. A new rattle segment is added each time the snake sheds its skin, and the snake may shed its skin several times a year, depending on food supply and growth rate. Rattlesnakes travel with their rattles held up to protect them from damage, but in spite of this precaution, their day-to-day activities in the wild still cause them to regularly break off end segments. Because of this, the number of rattles on its tail is not related to the age of a rattlesnake. Compared to females, males have thicker and longer tails (because they contain the inverted hemipenes). Also, the tails of males taper gradually from the body, whereas the tails of females narrow abruptly at the vent.
The earliest efforts used methods similar to those used by Dayhoff, using large-scale matching of the protein database to generate a new log-odds matrix and the JTT (Jones-Taylor-Thornton) model. The rapid increases in compute power in the 21st century (reflecting factors such as Moore's law) made it feasible to estimate parameters for empirical models using maximum likelihood (e.g., the WAG and LG models) and other methods (e.g., the VT and PMB models). The IQ-Tree software package allows users to infer their own time reversible model using QMaker, or non-time-reversible using nQMaker. These methods produce both a tree and a best-fitting matrix. GTR is also available in IQ-Tree. The inference of custom models and GTR require a relatively large alignment due to the large number of parameters involved. As a consequence, a large number of empirical substitution models of protein evolution are currently available. These substitution models are derived from protein sequences of different taxonomic groups and protein families such as nuclear proteins, chloroplast proteins, mitochondrial proteins, and viral proteins, among others. A singular empirical model assume a constant set of amino acid frequencies over the entire evolutionary tree, which is often not the case over wide-spanning trees. The Bayesian CAT model was introduced in 2004. Maximum-likelihood version of it with 10–60 empirical profiles (C10–C60) were introduced in 2008. These methods are available in PhyML and IQ-TREE.
== Other uses == Opus (mythology), a son of Zeus Opus, Greece, a city in ancient Locris, Greece Opus (Elis), a town in ancient Elis, Greece Opus (architecture), generic term for "construction method", "construction material", "masonry", in use in Ancient Rome OPUS (chromatography), a line of chromatography columns manufactured by Repligen Corporation OPUS (psychiatry), a Danish early intervention program for people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders Opus Film, a Polish film production company
Beginning with the colonial era and intensifying after the South American states had gained their independence, large landowners appropriated all or most of the land and forced the Native population into bondage (known in Ecuador as Huasipungo, from Kichwa wasipunku, "front door"). Harsh conditions of exploitation repeatedly led to revolts by the Indigenous farmers, which were forcibly suppressed. The largest of these revolts occurred in 1780–1781 under the leadership of Husiy Qawriyil Kunturkanki (Túpac Amaru II).Some Indigenous farmers re-occupied their ancestors' lands and expelled the landlords during the takeover of governments by dictatorships in the middle of the 20th century, such as in 1952 in Bolivia (Víctor Paz Estenssoro) and 1968 in Peru (Juan Velasco Alvarado). The agrarian reforms included the expropriation of large landowners. In Bolivia, there was a redistribution of the land to the Indigenous population as their private property. This disrupted traditional Quechua and Aymara culture based on communal ownership, but ayllus has been retained up to the present time in remote regions, such as in the Peruvian Quechua community of Q'ero. The struggle for land rights continues up to the present time to be a political focal point of everyday Quechua life. The Kichwa ethnic groups of Ecuador which are part of the ECUARUNARI association were recently able to regain communal land titles or the return of estates—in some cases through militant activity.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Investigations === Several sets of investigations, both congressional via the Senate Armed Services Committee, military via courts-martial, and criminal for non-military contractors, were launched in response to the scandal. Seymour Hersh, who exposed the Abu Ghraib scandal, and reports in Newsweek, has taken the case even further. In 2003, Donald Rumsfeld instituted a policy that "encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq.". This policy stemmed from an earlier policy taken toward al-Qaeda prisoners. A memo to the Bush White House from counsel Alberto Gonzales claimed that the new sort of war renders the Geneva Conventions' limitations on interrogating enemy prisoners "obsolete". The program was approved by the CIA, NSA, and the National Security Council. President George W. Bush was informed of it. The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Steven Cambone administered the operation. His deputy, William Boykin, instructed the head of operations at Camp X-ray Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller to do the same at Abu Ghraib. Miller told Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski that the prison would now be dedicated to gathering intelligence. Douglas Feith and William Haynes were also involved in the operation. On May 18, 2004, a military intelligence analyst named Samuel Provance came out to the press, stating "There's definitely a cover-up".
Donated blood is usually processed after collection to make it suitable for use in specific patient populations. Collected blood is then separated into blood components by centrifugation: red blood cells, plasma, and platelets. Plasma can be further processed to manufacture albumin protein, clotting factor concentrates, cryoprecipitate, fibrinogen concentrate, and immunoglobulins (antibodies). Red cells, plasma, and platelets can also be donated individually via a more complex process called apheresis. Different blood components require specific storage conditions: red blood cells are typically stored at 1–6 °C, platelets at 20–24 °C with continuous agitation, and plasma is stored frozen at −18 °C or lower to preserve clotting factors.
=== Differential diagnoses === The muscle weakness that worsens with activity (abnormal muscle fatigue) in myasthenia gravis is a symptom shared by other neuromuscular diseases. Most of the metabolic myopathies, such as McArdle disease (GSD-V), have abnormal muscle fatigue rather than fixed muscle weakness. Also, like myasthenia gravis, exercise intolerance in McArdle disease improves with regular physical activity (performed safely using activity adaptations such as getting into second wind, the "30 for 80 rule," and "six second rule"). A small minority of people with McArdle disease also have the comorbidity of ptosis (drooping upper eyelid). Late-onset GSD-II (Pompe disease) and GSD-XV also have muscle weakness or fatigue with comorbidities of ptosis and ophthalmoplegia; as do many of the mitochondrial myopathies. Other diseases that involve abnormal muscle fatigue (which may be described as exercise-induced muscle weakness, reversible muscle weakness, or muscle weakness that improves with rest) include: endocrine myopathies (such as Hoffman syndrome), Tubular aggregate myopathy (TAM), ischemia (such as intermittent claudication, popliteal artery entrapment syndrome, and chronic venous insufficiency), and poor diet or malabsorption diseases that lead to vitamin D deficiency (osteomalic myopathy). Although limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs) involve fixed muscle weakness, LGMDR8 also involves muscle fatigue; as do some limb-girdle muscular dystrophy-dystroglycanopathies such as MDDGC3 (a.k.a. LGMDR15 and LGMD2O).
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
The sequence is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, written TKPRPGP in one-letter code. It combines the tetrapeptide tuftsin with a carboxyl-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro extension. This full sequence identifies the molecule more precisely than the research name.
No peptide with this exact sequence has been identified as an endogenous substance. It is a laboratory-designed analog of tuftsin, a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. The Pro-Gly-Pro extension has no known natural source.
Proline introduces conformational constraints that make a peptide less accessible to common peptidases. This is a standard stabilization strategy in peptide design. The added residues also increase the distance between the active tuftsin portion and typical cleavage sites.
The most common approach combines reverse-phase liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Chromatography separates the components while mass spectrometry confirms the molecular mass. Peptide sequencing or tandem mass analysis can further verify the amino acid order.