If you have been reading about elevated plus maze and want a single page that covers the useful parts, this is it: definitions, context, how it is studied, and the questions that come up repeatedly.
Last reviewed on 2026-04-19. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
Measuring peptide exposure inside the brain is technically difficult. Selank is degraded rapidly in plasma, and assays must separate intact peptide from fragments, which favors targeted mass spectrometry over immunoassays alone. Reported half-lives are short, on the order of minutes, so effects observed hours later are attributed to downstream signaling rather than to the parent compound. Blood-brain barrier permeability is debated and rarely quantified directly. Gaps include absent dose-response characterization, inconsistent reporting of purity, and almost no pharmacokinetic data from human participants.
Selank is studied chiefly as an animal-model anxiolytic with proposed secondary effects on memory and immune signaling. Reported mechanisms include modulation of the GABA-A receptor complex, inhibition of enkephalin-degrading enzymes, and shifts in monoamine turnover within limbic structures. Some experiments describe increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the hippocampus after repeated dosing. No single molecular target has been confirmed, and the peptide does not bind any receptor with the selectivity typical of a conventional small-molecule drug. Mechanism therefore remains a set of hypotheses rather than an established pathway.
Peptide bonds in selank are susceptible to hydrolysis under strongly acidic or basic conditions, and the terminal proline residues are vulnerable to exopeptidase activity in biological samples. Lyophilized powder stored dry at -20 °C typically remains stable for extended periods, whereas aqueous solutions degrade faster and may lose measurable purity within days to weeks depending on pH, temperature, and microbial load. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles promote aggregation and adsorption to container surfaces. For analytical work, solutions are usually prepared fresh, kept cold, and used within a single working day.
Handling follows standard practice for research peptides. Material is weighed in a low-humidity environment because the powder absorbs atmospheric moisture. Purity is reported as the percentage area of the main peak in a chromatogram, with specifications commonly set at 95 percent or higher; values below that threshold indicate the presence of truncated or modified species. Residual trifluoroacetate from purification is often present and may affect mass balance. Certificates of analysis should state the analytical method, the column and gradient used, and the lot-specific retention time so that results can be compared across suppliers.
Identity and purity of selank are established with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The peptide elutes from C18 columns with acetonitrile gradients in water containing trifluoroacetic acid or formic acid, and detection is usually performed by ultraviolet absorbance near 214 nm. Electrospray ionization in positive mode gives a doubly protonated ion near m/z 377, consistent with a mass of about 752 Da. Amino acid analysis or tandem mass spectrometry of fragment ions confirms the sequence. Because the molecule has no aromatic residues, it lacks a usable 280 nm chromophore, so low-wavelength detection or mass spectrometry is required.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Principal proposed target | GABA-A receptor complex | Hypothesis derived mainly from animal pharmacology |
| Common behavioral assay | Elevated plus maze | Rodent test for anxiety-like behavior |
| Reported molecular marker | Hippocampal BDNF expression | Measured by immunoassay or mRNA quantification |
| Typical dosing route | Intranasal | Chosen to reduce first-pass metabolism |
| Reported plasma half-life | Minutes | Based on limited peptide stability data |
Solubility behavior is a practical concern for handling. Selank dissolves readily in water and in common aqueous buffers, which simplifies preparation of working solutions. The choice of solvent, ionic strength, and pH can influence aggregation over time, particularly at higher concentrations. Aqueous solutions are typically sterile-filtered before use. Because stability depends on several variables, storage and handling notes should be treated as general guidance rather than fixed rules, and specific values are best confirmed against a certificate of analysis for each batch.
Characterization of Selank in a laboratory setting relies on standard peptide methods. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography separates the target from related impurities and provides a purity figure, commonly reported as 95 percent or higher. Mass spectrometry, typically electrospray ionization or matrix-assisted laser desorption, confirms the molecular mass and helps detect truncation or modification. Amino acid analysis can verify composition when a sequence-level check is needed. These techniques together establish identity and purity for a given lot.
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.
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 developed in Russia during the 1990s. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences designed it as a stabilized analog of tuftsin, a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. The compound has been studied primarily for its reported anxiolytic and nootropic effects. It remains largely unknown in Western pharmacology and is not approved as a medicine by major regulators such as the FDA or the EMA.
The primary structure of Selank is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, corresponding to the molecular formula C33H57N11O9 and a monoisotopic mass of roughly 751.9 daltons. The N-terminal threonine and the arginine residue in the fourth position are shared with tuftsin, which carries the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg. The three additional residues at the C-terminus, Pro-Gly-Pro, extend the chain and are associated with greater resistance to enzymatic degradation. This extension also separates Selank from the shorter parent peptide.
=== Antimicrobial peptides and biomembranes === Mechler's research on biomolecular interactions has focused on lipid membranes, their phase and domain dynamics, and membrane disruption by antimicrobial peptides. He utilized spectroscopic imaging and near-field microscopy to show that cholesterol-rich domains in bilayer membranes form optimally at a 15:85 lipid-cholesterol ratio, with specific domain separation occurring at lower concentrations. Additionally, he found that the structure of supported phospholipid bilayers varies with liposome size, composition, and substrate, as shown by quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy. Working with Imad Younus Hasan, Mechler employed QCM-based measurements to show cholesterol induces phase separation in single bilayer lipid membranes and demonstrated that partially suspended DMPC-based bilayer membranes can form on functionalized gold surfaces in a way that allows natural membrane movement, providing a truly Biomimetic platform for membrane studies and protein insertion. They also mapped thermodynamic phase transitions of lipid membranes, through nanoviscosity measurements, in single bilayer lipid membranes, revealing that domain separation occurs only in planar membranes and that phase transitions are due to the breaking of van der Waals interactions. Using quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy, Mechler and his research group investigated how specific antimicrobial peptides secreted by insects such as honeybees and amphibians such as Australian tree frogs disrupt bacterial membranes.
Gene knockdown by transfection of exogenous siRNA is only transient, especially in rapidly dividing cells. This may be overcome by creating an expression vector for the siRNA. The siRNA sequence is modified to introduce a short loop between the two strands. The resulting transcript is a short hairpin RNA (shRNA), which can be processed into a functional siRNA by Dicer in its usual fashion. Typical transcription cassettes use an RNA polymerase III promoter (e.g., U6 or H1) to direct the transcription of small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs, where U6 is involved in RNA splicing; H1 is the RNase component of human RNase P). It is theorized that the resulting siRNA transcript is then processed by Dicer. The gene knockdown efficiency can also be improved by using cell squeezing. The activity of siRNAs in RNAi is largely dependent on its binding ability to the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). Binding of the duplex siRNA to RISC is followed by unwinding and cleavage of the sense strand with endonucleases. The remaining anti-sense strand-RISC complex can then bind to target mRNAs for initiating transcriptional silencing.
The yeast has a negative effect on the bacteria that normally produce antibiotics to kill the parasite, so may affect the ants' health by allowing the parasite to spread. A different yeast species is grown by fungus-growing ants of the genus Cyphomyrmex. Certain strains of some species of yeasts produce proteins called yeast killer toxins that allow them to eliminate competing strains. (See main article on killer yeast.) This can cause problems for winemaking but could potentially also be used to advantage by using killer toxin-producing strains to make the wine. Yeast killer toxins may also have medical applications in treating yeast infections (see "Pathogenic yeasts" section below). Marine yeasts, defined as the yeasts that are isolated from marine environments, are able to grow better on a medium prepared using seawater rather than freshwater. The first marine yeasts were isolated by Bernhard Fischer in 1894 from the Atlantic Ocean, and those were identified as Torula sp. and Mycoderma sp. Following this discovery, various other marine yeasts have been isolated from around the world from different sources, including seawater, seaweeds, marine fish and mammals. Among these isolates, some marine yeasts originated from terrestrial habitats (grouped as facultative marine yeast), which were brought to and survived in marine environments. The other marine yeasts were grouped as obligate or indigenous marine yeasts, which are confined to marine habitats. However, no sufficient evidence has been found to explain the indispensability of seawater for obligate marine yeasts.
=== Differentiation from other species === Joshi et al. have used fluorescent microscopy and gas chromatography to distinguish the species, while Lederer et al. employed thin layer chromatography with HPLC-MS/MS.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
They return to the surface where they are forced to defeat Wheatley before his ineptitude with the Aperture systems causes the facility reactors to become critical and explode. GLaDOS is returned to her original place and returns the facility to normal. GLaDOS then lets Chell go, realizing that the prospect of trying to kill her is too much trouble. Instead, she turns to two robots of her own creation, Atlas and P-Body, to locate a mythical store of additional human subjects kept in cryogenic sleep for her to continue testing on. In addition to these characters, the game includes numerous laser-seeking turrets that seek to kill the player-characters, though are apologetic for it; most are voiced by McLain, though some defective ones in the sequel are voiced by Nolan North. GLaDOS introduces Chell to the "Weighted Companion Cube", appearing similar to other Weighed Cubes (crates) in the game, but decorated with hearts on its sides; GLaDOS attempts to make Chell believe the Companion Cube is a sentient object and a key to her survival, before having Chell dispose of it in an incinerator in order to leave a test chamber. Both games feature other personality cores that were constructed to keep GLaDOS in check; the first game includes three cores, the Morality, Curiosity, and Intelligence Cores, voiced by McLain as well as a snarling Anger Core voiced by Mike Patton. In Portal 2, three more such cores (beyond Wheatley) are introduced including the irrelevant Fact Core, the bold Adventure Core, and the space-obsessed Space Core, each voiced by North.
== Medical uses == Sitagliptin is used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is generally less preferred than metformin or sulfonylureas. It is taken by mouth. It is also available as the fixed-dose combinations of sitagliptin/metformin (Janumet, Janumet XR) and sitagliptin/simvastatin (Juvisync). Sitagliptin should not be used to treat type 1 diabetes. In December 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved labeling changes stating that Januvia (sitagliptin), Janumet (sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride), and Janumet XR (sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride extended-release) are not proven to improve glycemic (blood sugar) control in children aged 10 to 17 with type 2 diabetes. The drugs are approved to improve blood sugar control in adults aged 18 and older with type 2 diabetes.
Carbohydrate macromolecules (polysaccharides) are formed from polymers of monosaccharides. Because monosaccharides have multiple functional groups, polysaccharides can form linear polymers (e.g. cellulose) or complex branched structures (e.g. glycogen). Polysaccharides perform numerous roles in living organisms, acting as energy stores (e.g. starch) and as structural components (e.g. chitin in arthropods and fungi). Many carbohydrates contain modified monosaccharide units that have had functional groups replaced or removed.
Mass spectrometry is used where very high sensitivity is required and is sometimes used as a back-end process after gas liquid chromatography for detecting trace organic chemicals. Depending on the components, different methods are applied to determine the quantities or ratios of the components. While some methods can be performed with standard laboratory equipment, others require advanced devices, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
== Limitations == With radioligand therapy, there is always the risk of damage to non-cancerous surrounding tissues along with radioisotope toxicity which is always a challenge in determining how to administer and create the radioligand. Furthermore, the radioligand vial is only viable for a limited time and under specific conditions which challenges transport and storage along with feasible application to the patient. Another limitation is the lack of centers that have trained personnel and equipment for radioligand therapy. Furthermore, individual characteristics affect the exact radiosensitivity to the therapy (thus affecting dosimetry) and are hard to predict without radiobiological models.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Intranasal administration predominates in both animal and human research because it avoids hepatic first-pass metabolism. Injectable and intraperitoneal routes appear in animal work mainly for comparison.
Behavioral endpoints include time spent in open arms of the elevated plus maze and avoidance latencies. Biochemical endpoints include BDNF concentration, cytokine levels, and monoamine metabolite ratios in brain tissue.
Most published studies are small, originate from a limited number of laboratories, and lack independent replication. Dose-response relationships, measured brain exposure, and long-term outcomes are not well characterized.
Identity is confirmed by matching the retention time in reversed-phase chromatography against a reference standard and by measuring the molecular mass with mass spectrometry. Tandem mass spectrometry or amino acid analysis can verify the sequence of the seven residues. Because the peptide contains no aromatic amino acids, detection at 280 nm is not useful.