What does Selank do according to research?

Rodent work reports anxiolytic activity through GABAergic and serotonergic signalling, along with effects on BDNF expression, and — the defining claim — without the sedation and motor impairment that accompany benzodiazepines. Those are findings in rats.

Is Selank approved anywhere?

It is registered as a medicine in Russia. It holds no marketing authorisation in the EU, UK or US, and is supplied here as a laboratory reagent for research use only.

Why does Selank's literature look so thin?

Because most of it is published in Russian and not indexed in the databases Western reviewers search. The English-language record is a partial view rather than the whole, which is a different situation from a compound nobody has studied.

How is Selank related to Semax?

They are separate molecules from the same research tradition, both carrying a Pro-Gly-Pro tail for stability. Semax derives from ACTH(4-10) and is studied for cognition; Selank derives from tuftsin and is studied as an anxiolytic.

Has Selank been tested in humans?

Clinical use underpins its Russian registration, and there is published human imaging work on functional connectivity. No randomised controlled trial has been published in a Western-indexed journal.

Research guides

Selank (TP-7): what the research says

A tuftsin-derived anxiolytic registered as a medicine in Russia. Its defining reported property is what it lacks: sedation. The rodent evidence, and the limits.

Available in the catalogue

Supplied as research material. Sizes and pricing are on the product page. Availability is not a statement about what a compound does.

SELANK
Nootropic & Cognitive

Selank is one of two compounds in this catalogue where the honest summary has to start with a note about language: it is a registered medicine in Russia, most of its literature is published in Russian, and the English-indexed record is a partial view of the work rather than the whole of it.

What the molecule is

A seven-amino-acid peptide built from tuftsin — a fragment of an immunoglobulin heavy chain — with a Pro-Gly-Pro tail added for stability. The same tail design appears on Semax, and for the same reason: it slows the peptidases that would otherwise clear the molecule quickly.

What the reported property actually is

It has been studied as an anxiolytic acting through GABAergic and serotonergic signalling, and reported to influence expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The property that drew attention in the animal literature is a negative one: anxiolytic activity in maze models without the sedation and motor impairment that accompany benzodiazepines.

That is a meaningful claim to make about an anxiolytic, because sedation is the thing that limits the class. It is also a claim established in rodents, and rodent maze behaviour is a model of anxiety rather than a measurement of it.

The rest of the rodent literature

Published work indexed in English covers protection against ethanol-induced memory impairment with BDNF measured in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, attenuation of aversive signs of morphine withdrawal, effects on hippocampal synaptic activity, and morphological changes in the gut under chronic restraint stress. There is also human imaging work examining functional connectivity under Selank and Semax.

A finding about the market, not the molecule

A 2020 paper in Drug Testing and Analysis examined seized preparations of putative cognitive-enhancing research peptides and reported on what they actually contained. That is a finding about the supply chain rather than the pharmacology, and it is one of the more practically useful papers attached to this compound: it is the reason a certificate of analysis is not a formality.

What studies reported

Each entry states what a study examined and the model it used. Nothing below describes an outcome for a person.

Everything below is drawn from published research, and each entry names the model the study used. Approval status varies by compound and by country, and nothing described here is supplied as a medicine or for use in a person.

Vyunova et al. (2018)Protein and Peptide Letters · 25(10):914–23
A review of the molecular basis of the peptide's reported anxiolytic activity, covering its interaction with GABAergic signalling and its effects on BDNF expression.
review of in vitro and rodent work Source
Kolik et al. (2019)Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine · 167(5):641–4
Reported protection against ethanol-induced memory impairment, with BDNF content measured in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
rat Source
Povarov et al. (2017)Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine · 162(5):640–2
Examined the effect of the peptide on spontaneous synaptic activity in hippocampal neurons.
rat, hippocampal CA1 neurons Source
Panikratova et al. (2020)Doklady Biological Sciences · 490(1):9–11
Applied a functional connectomic approach to studying the effects of Selank and Semax on brain network organisation.
human, functional connectivity imaging Source

Adverse and null findings reported

Harms, tolerability observations, and trials that did not meet their endpoint. A negative result is a finding and is listed here rather than omitted.

Vanhee et al. (2020)Drug Testing and Analysis · 12(3):371–81
Analysed seized pharmaceutical preparations containing putative cognitive-enhancing research peptides and reported on their actual content, as an argument for controlling agencies to prepare for such products.
analytical study of seized preparations Source
Doyno & White (2021)Journal of Clinical Pharmacology · 61 Suppl 2:S114–28
A review of agents affecting GABA receptors that includes Selank alongside flunitrazepam, GHB and phenibut, examining what is and is not known about their pharmacology and risk.
review Source

What the research does not establish

An absence cannot be cited, so these are stated plainly. They are the part of the picture that silence would otherwise hide.

No randomised controlled trial of Selank has been published in a Western-indexed journal. It is a registered medicine in Russia, and the clinical evidence supporting that registration is largely published in Russian and has not been independently reviewed in English.
The absence of English-language trial data is a fact about the indexing, not proof that no clinical work exists. Both readings get made and neither is safe: the literature is genuinely thin in English and genuinely not empty in Russian.
The anxiolytic-without-sedation finding — the compound's defining claim — rests on rodent maze models. No published human trial has tested it against a benzodiazepine comparator on both axes.
It holds no marketing authorisation in the EU, UK or US.
Long-term administration has not been characterised in any published study.
Analytical work on seized preparations found that material sold in this category does not reliably match its label, so some of what is discussed under this name in non-clinical settings was not this compound.

Common questions

What does Selank do according to research?: Rodent work reports anxiolytic activity through GABAergic and serotonergic signalling, along with effects on BDNF expression, and — the defining claim — without the sedation and motor impairment that accompany benzodiazepines. Those are findings in rats.
Is Selank approved anywhere?: It is registered as a medicine in Russia. It holds no marketing authorisation in the EU, UK or US, and is supplied here as a laboratory reagent for research use only.
Why does Selank's literature look so thin?: Because most of it is published in Russian and not indexed in the databases Western reviewers search. The English-language record is a partial view rather than the whole, which is a different situation from a compound nobody has studied.
How is Selank related to Semax?: They are separate molecules from the same research tradition, both carrying a Pro-Gly-Pro tail for stability. Semax derives from ACTH(4-10) and is studied for cognition; Selank derives from tuftsin and is studied as an anxiolytic.
Has Selank been tested in humans?: Clinical use underpins its Russian registration, and there is published human imaging work on functional connectivity. No randomised controlled trial has been published in a Western-indexed journal.

Compounds covered

The reference page for each compound this article discusses.

Selank

Semax: what the research says
An ACTH(4-10) analogue registered as a medicine in Russia and unknown to Western regulators. What the BDNF work reported, and why the English record looks thin.
N-Acetyl Selank Amidate: what the research says
Selank with both termini capped, and the same evidence problem as its Semax counterpart: a plausible stability modification nobody has published a study on.
How to store research peptides
Lyophilised peptides at -20°C, reconstituted at 2–8°C, ambient in transit. Why the dry cake tolerates shipping, and what actually degrades a vial.

About this article

Everything reported here comes from published research, and each finding names the model the study used — cell culture, rat, or human. Findings in one model do not transfer to another, most of the work described is preclinical, and none of it is a claim that a compound is safe or effective for any purpose. Nothing on this page describes doses, routes of administration, or use in a person.

Approval status varies by compound and by country. A few of the substances described are the active ingredient of medicines authorised in the EU; most have no marketing authorisation anywhere and have never been assessed by a regulator. Neither is supplied as a medicine here. All material supplied by ASSAY is sold for in-vitro laboratory research only, and is not a drug, food, cosmetic or medical device, and not for human or veterinary use.

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