Neuro & cognitive

Cortagen

Also called Kortagen, AEDP peptide, Ala-Glu-Asp-Pro

Cortagen is a small lab-made peptide (four amino acids) from Vladimir Khavinson's Russian 'peptide bioregulator' program, aimed at the brain cortex. Interest comes from rat nerve-repair work and lab studies on aging chromosomes. 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 cultured white blood cells from people over 80, Cortagen loosened tightly packed 'aged' chromatin and activated ribosomal-RNA gene regions, which the authors read as reactivating silenced genes ²⁴. A developer review also links the AEDP sequence to promoting skin, connective-tissue and nerve-cell differentiation in culture ⁸. How, or whether, this translates into effects in a living person is unknown.

What research shows

Rat study: after the sciatic nerve was cut and sutured, 10 days of injected cortagen (10 µg/kg) increased nerve-fiber regrowth rate by 27% and conduction speed by 40% (Turchaninova et al., 2000) ³.
Cell study (lymphocytes from people aged 80+; Tbilisi State University, 2015): Cortagen decondensed total heterochromatin and activated ribosomal genes, but not the structural heterochromatin near centromeres ².
Cell study (lymphocytes from donors aged 75–88): Cortagen, along with four related peptides, activated ribosomal genes and loosened condensed chromatin (Khavinson et al., 2004) ⁴.
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 extrapolated from animal studies or vendor material.

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). Confirm with your anti-doping organization ⁷.
Other: The developers' institute claims Russian Ministry of Health adoption ⁵; no current Russian drug registration was 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; the institute's own material lists it among five synthetic peptides it says were adopted by the Russian Ministry of Health, a claim not independently verified here ⁵. Animal work was published from 2000 ³; chromatin studies with Georgian collaborators followed in 2004–2015 ⁴².

Common questions

Is Cortagen an approved drug?

No. It is not FDA-approved and has no recognized US compounding route ⁶. A claimed Russian approval could not be confirmed ⁵.

What does the evidence show?

Rat nerve-repair results and lab studies on chromatin in older people's blood cells ³². No controlled human trials have been published.

Is Cortagen banned in sport?

It is not named on WADA's 2026 list, but unapproved substances generally fall under S0, prohibited at all times ⁷.

Is it safe?

Its safety in people has not been studied, so the risks are unknown.

Related compounds

Neuro & cognitivePreclinical onlyFlashcard

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.

Cardiovascular & bloodPreclinical onlyFlashcard

Vesugen

Vezugen · KED peptide

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

Longevity & mitochondrialPreclinical onlyFlashcard

Epitalon

epithalon · epithalone

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

Sources

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