Identification of Peptide AEDG in the Polypeptide Complex of the Pineal Gland

Khavinson VK, Kopylov AT, Vaskovsky BV, Ryzhak GA, Lin'kova NS. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2017.

Organ: pineal-circadian · Type: in-vitro · Peptides: Epitalon

HPLC and mass spectrometry of a pineal polypeptide complex detected the tetrapeptide AEDG among its tetrapeptide fraction; the authors infer that AEDG accounts for much of the complex’s published biology.

Editorial summary of a 2017 short analytical paper in Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. Chemistry of a pineal extract, not a cell or animal efficacy trial. Public pages cite PubMed only. Read the paper: PMID 29124531.

Methods

Pineal gland polypeptide complex (PGPC) as a 2.5 mg/ml solution with glycine as an inactive ingredient. Components were separated by UPLC (Agilent Infinity 1290) and identified by Q-TOF LC/MS (Agilent G6550A) in tandem modes, with selective-reaction monitoring on an Eclipse Plus C-18 RRHD column to look for AEDG among tetrapeptides. The authors report a composition of free amino acids 3.26%, dipeptides 23.19%, tripeptides 50.72%, tetrapeptides 22.10%, and pentapeptides 0.72%. Instrument settings belong in the primary text.

Findings

AEDG (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, Epitalon / Epithalon) was detected among the tetrapeptides of the epiphysis complex. The authors argue that the similar published biological effects of PGPC and synthetic AEDG are explained by AEDG being a constituent of the extract. This paper does not itself re-measure melatonin, lifespan, or clinical endpoints; those claims are citations of earlier work.

An identification study is not an efficacy trial. Follow the PMID.