Longevity & Cellular Health Peptide Research

Telomerase & Pineal Signaling Research

Epitalon is a synthetic tetrapeptide studied for its proposed role in telomerase activity and pineal gland function, making it a frequently referenced compound in aging-related research examining cellular senescence markers.

Mitochondrial Membrane-Targeted Research

SS-31 is a mitochondria-targeted peptide that concentrates at the inner mitochondrial membrane, studied for its interaction with cardiolipin and its role in reducing oxidative stress in research models.

Mitochondrial-Derived Peptide Signaling

MOTS-c is encoded within the mitochondrial genome rather than nuclear DNA, discovered in 2015 by Changhan David Lee's team at USC — a finding that opened up an entirely new research category, now generally referred to as mitochondrial-derived peptides (MDPs). Research interest centers on its apparent role in AMPK-linked cellular signaling and the broader question of how mitochondrial-derived peptides communicate with nuclear gene expression, a relationship sometimes described in the literature as retrograde mitochondrial signaling. Its research base also overlaps with the metabolic-regulation literature covered in our Weight Loss & Metabolic research overview. See its full research profile, or how it compares to SS-31.

Cellular Energy & NAD+ Metabolism Research

NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a coenzyme central to mitochondrial energy production and sirtuin activation, with tissue levels declining an estimated 50% or more across the human lifespan — a decline researchers have linked to reduced PGC-1α-driven mitochondrial biogenesis and DNA-repair capacity. NAD+ itself has poor oral bioavailability and is broken down before reaching cells intact, so most human research instead studies precursor compounds — nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) — that raise intracellular NAD+ levels indirectly.

Cartilage Bioregulator Research

Cartalax is a synthetic tripeptide (Ala-Glu-Asp) from the same Khavinson bioregulator lineage as Epitalon, proposed to bind chromatin in chondrocytes and activate transcription of cartilage matrix genes — type II collagen, aggrecan, and link protein. Its evidence base is thinner than Epitalon's: the handful of PubMed-indexed papers referencing Cartalax do not measure a cartilage endpoint directly, and the chondrocyte-proliferation finding most often cited comes from a single, unreplicated Russian-language animal experiment outside PubMed. See its full research profile, or how it compares to Pinealon, a brain-targeted compound from the same lineage.

Senolytic Research

FOXO4-DRI takes a different approach to cellular aging than any other compound on this page: rather than supporting cell function, it is designed to selectively eliminate senescent ("zombie") cells. It is a D-retro-inverso peptide engineered to disrupt the FOXO4-p53 interaction that senescent cells depend on to evade apoptosis, competitively blocking that interaction so p53 is freed to trigger cell death specifically in senescent cells. See its full research profile.

Clinical & Preclinical Trial Data

Epitalon: Khavinson and Morozov (2003) followed a cohort of 266 elderly individuals for 6–8 years after receiving short courses of peptide bioregulators, reporting mortality reduction ranging from 1.6× (Epitalon-based regimen alone) up to roughly 4× in the most intensive combined-regimen group, versus untreated controls. This and most other Epitalon research comes from Khavinson's own institute (the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology) and Russian-affiliated journals, and has not been independently replicated in a large Western multi-center trial — it should be read as early domestic cohort evidence, not evidence of the same strength as an FDA-reviewed trial. See its full research profile or discovery history, or how it compares to SS-31.

SS-31: The TAZPOWER trial studied SS-31 (as elamipretide) in 12 genetically-confirmed Barth syndrome patients: a 28-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase, followed by a 168-week open-label extension. In the blinded 28-week phase, elamipretide did not reach statistical significance against placebo on its primary endpoints (the 6-Minute Walk Test and a fatigue score). The positive results came later, from the open-label extension: knee extensor muscle strength improved more than 45%, and 6-Minute Walk Test distance improved by 96.1 meters at week 168 versus the extension's own baseline (p=.003), with additional comparisons against an untreated natural-history control group also favoring elamipretide. The FDA's accelerated approval of FORZINITY (elamipretide) in September 2025 was based on this muscle-strength and open-label data, specifically for Barth syndrome — not on the initial blinded trial result. See its full research profile, or how it compares to MOTS-c.

MOTS-c: MOTS-c itself has not completed a human clinical trial. CB4211, a novel analog of MOTS-c developed by CohBar (a related but distinct molecule, not MOTS-c itself), was tested in a Phase 1a/1b trial in 20 adults with obesity and elevated liver fat, meeting its primary safety endpoint with no serious adverse events and reducing the liver enzymes ALT (-25%) and AST (-17%) relative to placebo; CohBar's development of CB4211 was later discontinued for company reasons unrelated to the trial results. Separately, a Phase 2a trial of MOTS-c itself ("MOTS-MET," NCT07505745) is currently underway, testing whether 12 weeks of subcutaneous MOTS-c improves insulin sensitivity in 120 adults with prediabetes and overweight or obesity; results have not yet been posted. See its full research profile, or how it compares to SS-31.

NAD+: The first human trial of a NAD+ precursor (Airhart et al., PLOS One, 2017; 12 healthy adults, crossover design) found that single oral doses of nicotinamide riboside (100mg, 300mg, and 1g) raised blood NAD+ by roughly 30% at the lowest dose and up to 50% at the higher doses, establishing precursor supplementation as a viable route to raising NAD+ in humans. A later 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (Igarashi et al., npj Aging, 2022) gave 250mg/day of NMN to healthy older men and found nominal improvements in gait speed and grip strength versus placebo, though the authors noted the effect sizes were modest and require replication in larger cohorts. No trial has administered NAD+ itself by injection to a comparable evidence standard. See its full research profile.

Cartalax: Unlike Epitalon, which has a 6–8 year human cohort behind it, Cartalax has essentially no dedicated clinical evidence. The most-cited supporting data point — increased chondrocyte proliferation in young and old rats — comes from Khavinson-affiliated Russian-language literature that has not been independently replicated, and a search of PubMed-indexed papers mentioning Cartalax turns up none that measured a cartilage-specific endpoint. This is a considerably weaker evidence base than most other compounds referenced on this site.

FOXO4-DRI: All data is preclinical, from a single landmark study (Baar et al., Cell, 2017). Using naturally aged mice, a chemotherapy-induced senescence model, and a fast-aging XPF-ERCC1-deficient mouse strain, intraperitoneal FOXO4-DRI (5mg/kg, three times weekly) reduced senescence markers (p21, γ-H2AX), improved kidney function markers, restored fur density in areas of alopecia, improved exercise tolerance, and accelerated recovery from doxorubicin chemotherapy, relative to controls. No human clinical trial has been conducted for any indication.

See the discovery history behind these peptides →

These compounds come up constantly in longevity and cellular-aging research literature but aren't part of our standard catalogue. We can still source them for your order — get in touch for pricing and lead time.