Epitalon
A synthetic tetrapeptide derived from Epithalamin, a pineal extract; has been reported to influence telomerase expression and circadian regulation in cell and animal models.
Epitalon (Epithalon) is a synthetic tetrapeptide (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly) developed in the 1980s by Vladimir Khavinson at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology as a defined fragment of Epithalamin, a polypeptide preparation extracted from bovine pineal glands.
The compound’s research profile centers on putative telomerase activation. In vitro work has reported induction of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) expression in somatic cells, with corresponding elongation of telomeres in cultured fibroblasts. In animal lifespan studies — primarily in mice and rats — chronic Epitalon administration is associated with increases in mean lifespan, attenuation of age-related immunological decline, and partial restoration of circadian melatonin profiles.
Independent replication of the telomerase findings outside the original Russian research network remains limited, and methodological details of the early lifespan studies have been the subject of ongoing scientific discussion. Epitalon is not approved as a therapeutic agent in any major regulatory jurisdiction; it is studied as a research tool in aging biology.