Cardiovascular & blood

Cardiogen

Also called AEDR peptide, Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg, Kardiogen, heart peptide bioregulator

Cardiogen is a small lab-made peptide, four amino acids long, from Vladimir Khavinson's Russian 'peptide bioregulator' series. It is marketed online as heart support. The research behind it is limited to cell and animal studies from one group, and there are no published controlled human trials.

Preclinical onlyStudied in cells or animals only. Effects in people are unknown.

All printable flashcards

Drawn from its published sequence: 4 residues, one bead each.

Overview

How it works

Proposed, not established. In mouse embryonic fibroblast cultures the AEDR peptide raised levels of cytoskeleton proteins (actin, tubulin, vimentin) and nuclear-matrix proteins (lamins A/C), which the authors link to more cell division and less cell death and offer as an explanation for its claimed heart-protective effect ². The developers also propose that it binds histone proteins and influences gene activity ⁵. None of this has been confirmed in people.

What research shows

Cell study (mouse embryonic fibroblasts): AEDR raised cytoskeletal proteins 2–5-fold and nuclear-matrix proteins 2–3-fold (Khavinson et al., 2012) ².
Tissue-culture study: cardiogen's effect on growth of heart-muscle explants from young and old rats was compared with single amino acids (2009) ⁴.
Rat study: in old rats with transplanted M-1 sarcoma, cardiogen was linked to dose-dependent tumor growth slowing via tumor-cell death and damage to tumor blood vessels (Levdik & Knyazkin, 2009) ³.
No controlled human trials were found.
Nearly all published work comes from Vladimir Khavinson's group at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology and its collaborators; independent replication is scarce.

Doses studied in people

No published human dosing data; doses circulating online are not from clinical trials.

Read this first: these are the amounts given to participants in published studies or written on official prescribing labels, reported for reference. They are not recommendations. Trial doses were chosen for specific patients under medical supervision, and a dose that is safe in one person can be harmful in another.

Vial math

Many research vials hold 5 or 10 mg of powder. This table shows how much ends up in each mark on a U-100 insulin syringe for common amounts of added liquid. It is arithmetic only, not a dose.

Vial	Liquid added	Concentration	Per unit (0.01 mL)
5 mg	1 mL	5 mg/mL	50 mcg	Open in calculator
5 mg	2 mL	2.5 mg/mL	25 mcg	Open in calculator
5 mg	3 mL	1.67 mg/mL	16.7 mcg	Open in calculator
10 mg	1 mL	10 mg/mL	100 mcg	Open in calculator
10 mg	2 mL	5 mg/mL	50 mcg	Open in calculator
10 mg	3 mL	3.33 mg/mL	33.3 mcg	Open in calculator

More sizes: all vial sizes · How this works: Syringes and units · Reconstitution guide.

Safety

No human safety studies have been published; long-term safety is unknown.
Unregulated 'research' products may vary in purity, sequence and content.

Report side effects of any drug or product to the FDA through MedWatch. For a possible poisoning in the US, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.

Legal status

FDA: Not FDA-approved.
Compounding: Not listed in any category of FDA's 503A bulk drug substance nominations (list updated May 14, 2026), so it has no recognized route for US pharmacy compounding ⁶.
Sports (WADA): Not named on the 2026 List. If it has no current government approval as a human medicine anywhere, it would fall under S0 (non-approved substances, prohibited at all times); sale as a dietary supplement is not a drug approval. Confirm with your anti-doping organization ⁷.
Other: Sold internationally as a 'research peptide'; Russian registration status for this specific product was not verified in this review.

Rules change often. See Legal status of peptides for how these categories work.

History

Developed at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology as part of the organ-named synthetic short-peptide series ¹. Studies under the name 'cardiogen' appear in Russian journals from the late 2000s ³⁴.

Common questions

Is Cardiogen approved for heart disease?

No. It is not FDA-approved for any use and is not among substances FDA has accepted for compounding review ⁶.

What does the research show?

Only lab and animal work, such as increased structural proteins in mouse cells and effects on rat heart tissue cultures ²⁴. There are no published controlled human trials.

Is Cardiogen banned in sport?

It is not named on WADA's 2026 list, but unapproved substances are generally covered by the S0 'prohibited at all times' category ⁷.

What are the risks?

Human safety has not been studied, so risks are unknown. One rat study looked at its effect on tumors, but that does not establish safety in people ³.

Related compounds

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Vesugen

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Vesugen is a very short lab-made peptide (three amino acids) from Vladimir Khavinson's Russian 'peptide bioregulator' program, promoted for blood-vessel health.

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Epitalon

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Epitalon is a tiny four-amino-acid peptide made in the lab, modeled on an extract from the pineal gland.

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Pinealon

EDR peptide · Glu-Asp-Arg

Pinealon is a very short lab-made peptide (three amino acids) from Vladimir Khavinson's Russian 'peptide bioregulator' program, promoted for brain health.

Sources

Last reviewed 2026-10-26 · How we research · Found an error? See our corrections policy.