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Epitalon (Epithalon), the Khavinson pineal tetrapeptide AEDG, in the published research literature.
A sober editorial digest of twenty-five years of in vitro telomerase work, rodent geroprotection studies, and small Russian human cohorts — with every quantitative claim cited and every literature limit named.
What Epitalon is, in one paragraph
Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide with the sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly — the AEDG peptide — designed in the late 1980s and 1990s by Vladimir Khavinson and colleagues at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology [1]. The molecule was reverse-engineered from the amino-acid profile of Epithalamin, a crude polypeptide extract of the bovine pineal gland that the Khavinson program had been studying for two decades [1][14]. Its molecular formula is C14H22N4O9, its molar mass 390.35 g/mol, and the TFA salt commonly used in research carries the CAS registry number 307297-39-8 [15]. The compound is also catalogued under the spellings Epithalon (with an h) and Epithalone — transliterations from the Russian — and a tight definitional page on what is Epitalon covers the same ground for newcomers.
What the published record has actually measured
Across twenty-five years of work, the Epitalon literature has accumulated three reproducible signals. First, in cultured human cells, AEDG induces expression of the telomerase catalytic subunit hTERT and elongates telomeres — first shown by Khavinson, Bondarev and Butyugov in fetal fibroblasts in 2003 [1] and independently replicated in normal human fibroblasts and epithelial cells by Al-dulaimi and colleagues in Biogerontology in 2025 [2]. Second, in rodent geroprotection models, monthly subcutaneous courses at microgram-per-mouse doses have reduced spontaneous tumor frequency in HER-2/neu mice [4], suppressed dimethylhydrazine-induced colon adenocarcinomas in rats [8], and slowed reproductive ageing in Swiss-derived SHR mice without increasing mean lifespan [6]. Third, in elderly human subjects with reduced pineal output, intramuscular courses of the parent extract Epithalamin restored night-time melatonin secretion toward younger-adult patterns [11][12]. The fine print matters: most of this work originates from a single program.
Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG): The Tetrapeptide Sequence
AEDG is the single-letter shorthand for the amino-acid sequence of Epitalon: Alanine–Glutamate–Aspartate–Glycine. Researchers and chemists use 'AEDG peptide' and 'Epitalon' interchangeably in the literature, and the AEDG peptide sequence is the structural identifier referenced in most modern Western-indexed papers. The molecule is short and linear, without disulfide bridges or post-translational modifications — four amino acids joined by three peptide bonds, with a free amine at the N-terminus and a free carboxylate at the C-terminus. The 2020 Molecules paper by Khavinson and colleagues proposed a histone-binding mechanism for AEDG, modelling preferential interactions with histones H1/3 and H1/6 at their DNA-interactive sites [3]. The 2025 Araj review in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences consolidates the structural literature and explicitly notes that formal physicochemical characterisation of the intact tetrapeptide remains an open research gap [15].
Chemical identity
The tetrapeptide is fully described by sequence H-Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly-OH, molecular formula C14H22N4O9, molar mass 390.35 g/mol, and CAS registry 307297-39-8 for the TFA salt commonly used in research [15]. The IUPAC name is (4S)-4-[[(2S)-2-aminopropanoyl]amino]-5-[[(2S)-3-carboxy-1-(carboxymethylamino)-1-oxopropan-2-yl]amino]-5-oxopentanoic acid. As a short, unmodified linear peptide, oral bioavailability of the intact molecule is expected to be poor — and most published work uses parenteral routes (subcutaneous, intramuscular, parabulbar) or in vitro delivery [15].
What is Epitalon?
Epitalon is the synthetic tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG), developed by Vladimir Khavinson's group in St. Petersburg from the amino-acid composition of the bovine pineal extract Epithalamin [1]. It is studied in the peer-reviewed literature as a putative telomerase activator, a modulator of pineal melatonin rhythm, and a candidate geroprotector in rodent models [2][6][11][15]. It is not an FDA-approved drug for any human indication.
Research uses
Epitalon is studied as a research tool for telomerase activation in human somatic cell lines [1][2], pineal melatonin regulation in aged subjects [11][12], antitumor effects in rodent models [4][7][8], and as a probe for cellular-aging biomarkers including hTERT expression, telomere length, and oxidative-stress indices [15]. It is not studied — in the peer-reviewed literature — as a cosmetic or appearance-modifying compound; reports of that kind circulate in consumer media but are not anchored to peer-reviewed clinical trial endpoints [15].
How to read this site
The dossier is organised by what the studies measured. The Epitalon mechanism of action page walks through the telomerase-induction and histone-binding evidence. The dosing in published studies page catalogues the routes and doses reported across rodent and human work, with no clinical recommendation attached. The frequently asked questions page collects the questions most often asked about the compound — including reported side effects, regulatory status, and the realistic limits of what the literature supports. The Khavinson peptide program section frames the historical context: this is a Russian peptide-bioregulator program with a long internal record and a thin external replication base, and reading the literature without that context produces misleading certainty in either direction.