Peptide reference
Epitalon
Epithalon ·Epithalone ·AEDG ·Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly
What cited sources report about Epitalon
Epitalon, also called Epithalon, Epithalone, or AEDG, is a synthetic tetrapeptide (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly) developed by Russian groups based on the amino-acid composition of Epithalamin, a bovine-pineal-gland extract. The peptide is currently under review by the FDA Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC), with a public meeting scheduled for July 24, 2026. As of the cited literature, Epitalon has no FDA-approved indication and no marketing authorization in any major jurisdiction. The summaries below report what individual cited sources state; this page does not assert claims beyond what those sources report.
Araj et al. (2025) — International Journal of Molecular Sciences
A 2025 review from the Department of Organic and Physical Chemistry at the Medical University of Warsaw and the Department of Geriatrics at Nicolaus Copernicus University surveyed 25 years of Epitalon research across in-vitro, in-vivo, and in-silico methodologies. The authors reported that the peptide has been associated with geroprotective and neuroendocrine effects originating from antioxidant, neuroprotective, and antimutagenic mechanisms, and they observed that the structural and physicochemical evidence base remains limited.
Although it has been demonstrated that Epitalon exerts, among other effects, a direct influence on melatonin synthesis… it remains uncertain whether these are the sole mechanisms of action of this compound. Moreover, despite the considerable volume of research on the biological and pharmacodynamic characteristics of Epitalon, the quantity of physico-chemical and structural investigations of this peptide remains quite limited.
Yue et al. (2022) — Aging (Albany NY)
Researchers at Shanxi Medical University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences cultured mouse oocytes in 0.1 mM Epitalon and assessed quality at 6-, 12-, and 24-hour aging windows. The authors observed reductions in intracellular ROS, reduced spindle defects, increased mitochondrial membrane potential, and reduced apoptosis in treated oocytes relative to controls.
Our results suggest that Epitalon can delay the aging process of oocytes in vitro via modulating mitochondrial activity and ROS levels.
Khavinson et al. (2020) — Molecules
A 2020 in-vitro study at the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology and the University G. d’Annunzio Chieti-Pescara reported that AEDG (Epitalon) increased levels of neurogenic differentiation markers in human gingival mesenchymal stem cells. The authors used molecular modelling to propose preferential binding to histones H1/3 and H1/6 as a possible epigenetic mechanism.
AEDG peptide can epigenetically regulate neuronal differentiation gene expression and protein synthesis in human stem cells.
PubChem CID 219042 — National Center for Biotechnology Information
The PubChem compound record for Epitalon catalogues the tetrapeptide sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly and aggregates synonym sets (Epithalon, Epithalone, AEDG) along with links to underlying chemical and biological literature.
Coverage notes
A substantial fraction of Epitalon literature has been authored by Russian groups, particularly the Khavinson group at the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology — a concentration that the recent Warsaw review (Araj 2025) implicitly acknowledges by noting the limited independent physicochemical characterization. No FDA-approved indication exists and no large, blinded clinical efficacy trial of Epitalon is indexed on ClinicalTrials.gov as of the last_updated date. This page will be updated when the July 2026 PCAC briefing materials are released.