This page shows what was measured, who it was measured in, and what that does not settle.
What Selank does in the body
A Russian anti-anxiety drug sold elsewhere without approval.
Selank is built from tuftsin, a four-amino-acid fragment that the body cuts out of antibodies and uses to activate immune cells, with three extra residues on the end to stop enzymes destroying it. Despite that immune origin, what it is sold and registered for is anxiety. The proposed mechanism is that it sits on the GABA-A receptor — the same receptor benzodiazepines use — but at a different place on it, nudging the receptor to respond more strongly to GABA rather than switching it on directly. Consistent with that, in rat frontal cortex it changed the expression of 45 of 84 neurotransmission genes within an hour, and those changes correlated with what GABA itself did.
What happened in people
Laboratory work found changes in a brain calming system. The published human study measured brain connections, not anxiety.
✓ Reviewed first-read answer
Where this came from
A person wrote this and a reviewer approved it against this exact record. It carries no effect size.
A reviewer approved this against this record. The reviewed-claim record carrying the exact population and effect size does not exist yet.
No source is stored against this line.
The limit that matters most
Its immune effects complicate the simple anti-anxiety story and remain poorly addressed.
Where it acts
GABA-A receptors on frontal cortical and amygdalar neurons
Kind of result
The kind of result is not recorded
Supervision
RNAWiki has not recorded a supervision or regulatory status for this substance.
What the registries record it as
The substance registry classes this as protein.
FDA substance registry · TS9JR8EP1G · read 2026-08-29
Its recorded molecular formula is C33H57N11O9, weighing 751.9.
PubChem record · 11765600 · read 2026-08-29
Where each sentence above came from
No recorded sentence describes the change this makes in a way that stands on its own. The page opens with what it is taken for instead, and the recorded explanation follows below.
Shown as the opening line on this page.
The limit a reviewer approved as the one that matters most here.
The four opening statements run to 141 words.
Words this page uses
Four words worth knowing first
Chosen from what this page shows, with each one explained before the word it depends on.
Protein
A protein is a folded chain your body builds to do a specific job.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A protein is like a tool bent into one shape for one task.
Where that stops being true. A tool keeps its shape. A protein can change shape and stop working.
What people get wrong. Protein in food and a protein in the body are related but not the same thing.
A polymer of amino acids folded into a defined structure that determines its function.
Enzyme
An enzyme is a protein that speeds up one chemical change.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
An enzyme is like a machine on a production line doing one cut.
Where that stops being true. A machine is switched on and off by a person. Enzymes are controlled by the cell.
What people get wrong. Enzymes are thought to be used up. They are not; they work again and again.
A catalytic protein that lowers the activation energy of a specific reaction.
Receptor
A receptor is a part of a cell that a signal fits into.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A receptor is like a lock waiting for one key.
Where that stops being true. A lock either opens or does not. A receptor can be half-triggered, or worn out.
What people get wrong. Fitting a receptor is read as causing a benefit. It causes a step, and nothing more.
A protein that binds a specific ligand and converts that binding into a cellular response.
Pathway
A pathway is a chain of steps inside a cell, each one setting off the next.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A pathway is like a row of dominoes.
Where that stops being true. Dominoes fall one way. Pathways loop back and can switch themselves off.
What people get wrong. Changing one step is read as changing the outcome. Other steps often absorb it.
An ordered series of molecular interactions producing a defined cellular change.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What happened in people
Each card is one study: the exact question it asked, who was in it, and whether it showed what it set out to show.
Whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity of amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex regions of interest
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
Panikratova 2020 resting-state fMRI study in healthy participants
How many people
52
Study design
Placebo-controlled human imaging study, three scans per participant
Compared against
A dummy treatment
Kind of result
What a body can do day to day
What was found
Between-group and between-condition differences in connectivity between right amygdala and right fusiform, inferior and middle temporal and parahippocampal gyri, with post hoc separation of general and Selank-specific effects
Repeated elsewhere
Unreplicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. The participants were healthy and the endpoint was a connectivity measure. The study establishes a central effect and says nothing about anxiety symptoms in patients.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Intranasal drops or spray in the Russian registered product; lyophilised powder for injection and nasal sprays elsewhere
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
[3H]GABA binding with and without Selank, alone and jointly with diazepam and olanzapine
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
Vyunova 2018 radioligand binding characterisation
How many people
0
Study design
In vitro, isolated brain-cell plasma membranes
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
Selank acted as a positive allosteric modulator of GABA binding; joint action with benzodiazepines was non-cumulative and distinct; Selank blocked the modulatory activity of diazepam and olanzapine
Repeated elsewhere
Unreplicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. No limitation is recorded for this study.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Intranasal drops or spray in the Russian registered product; lyophilised powder for injection and nasal sprays elsewhere
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
Expression of 84 neurotransmission genes after Selank or GABA at 300 ug/kg
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
Volkova 2016 neurotransmission gene expression study
How many people
0
Study design
Preclinical, rat frontal cortex, real-time PCR array at 1 and 3 hours
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
45 of 84 genes changed significantly at 1 hour and 22 at 3 hours, with a positive correlation between Selank-induced and GABA-induced changes at 1 hour
Repeated elsewhere
Partially Replicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. No limitation is recorded for this study.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Intranasal drops or spray in the Russian registered product; lyophilised powder for injection and nasal sprays elsewhere
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
RNAWiki holds 3 written-up human studies for this substance, each with the question it asked.
How we know it
Each card names the study, the number of people and what the study set out to measure.
What this does not prove
These summaries were written by a person and have not been signed off as reviewed claims.
Why it matters
A study that failed is as informative as one that worked, and both are here.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim exists, so no exact population, effect size or interval is published yet.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
How close this is to real life
The top step is something a person would feel or care about. The bottom is a guess from software. Filled steps are where evidence exists for this substance.
□Living longer, or avoiding a major eventNo evidence recorded. Death, a heart attack, a stroke, a hospital stay.No registered study measures this.
□What a body can do day to dayNo evidence recorded. Walking, dressing, breathing, recovering.No registered study measures this.
□Measured performanceNo evidence recorded. How much was lifted, how far was run, how fast.No registered study measures this.
□Symptoms and quality of lifeNo evidence recorded. Pain, tiredness, mood, sleep, as the person rated it.No registered study measures this.
□A number that stands in for healthNo evidence recorded. Cholesterol, blood sugar, bone density. A stand-in, not the thing itself.No registered study measures this.
□A step measured inside a personNo evidence recorded. Something measured in human tissue or human cells.No registered study measures this.
■AnimalsEvidence recorded. Mice, rats, dogs. Useful for ideas, not proof about people.Stored records in Mouse. A result in animals says what to test next. It does not say what happens in people.
□Cells in a dishNo evidence recorded. Cells or chemistry on a bench, far from a whole body.No cell or bench record is stored.
□A guess from softwareNo evidence recorded. Nobody measured it. RNAWiki never publishes one as a finding.RNAWiki stores no prediction for this record. Software can suggest a link. RNAWiki does not publish one as a finding.
Higher on these steps means closer to something a person would feel. It does not mean better done.
What it changes in the body◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
The path through the body
From what a person takes to what changes. A solid line is a step measured in people. A dashed line is a step nobody has measured that way.
Start
Selank
What a person takes: Intranasal drops or spray in the Russian registered product; lyophilised powder for injection and nasal sprays elsewhere.
The measurement behind this step
The registered route is intranasal. Outside Russia the same peptide is sold as a nasal spray and as a lyophilised powder for reconstitution and injection. A published comparison of intranasal and intraperitoneal administration in two mouse strains examined whether the pharmacological profile differs by route, which is the kind of question that has not been asked in humans at all.
Getting in
Given as a nasal spray
The route is drops or spray into the nose, which for a peptide cleared in minutes is how enough of it reaches the brain.
╌╌Measured in animals. A result in animals says what to test next. It does not say what happens in people.
The measurement behind this step
Intranasal administration in the Russian registered product and in most experimental work; a published comparison of intranasal and intraperitoneal routes in two mouse strains examined whether the pharmacological profile differs by route.
The three extra residues on the end block the enzymes that would otherwise cut the peptide apart immediately.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
The same C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro glyproline used in Semax. Tuftsin alone is cleaved within seconds; the extension raises the half-life to minutes, which is what makes a peripherally administered dose pharmacologically meaningful at all.
Modulates the GABA-A receptor from somewhere other than the benzodiazepine site
It appears to make the receptor respond more strongly to GABA, but from a different position than a benzodiazepine occupies.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Positive allosteric modulation of [3H]GABA binding on isolated brain-cell membranes, subtype-selective and concentration-dependent. Joint incubation with benzodiazepines produced a non-cumulative effect distinct from either alone, and Selank blocked the modulatory activity of diazepam and olanzapine, which the authors interpret as distinct but possibly partially overlapping sites.
An hour after a dose, more than half the neurotransmission genes tested had changed their activity in the frontal cortex.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
Forty-five of 84 neurotransmission genes changed significantly in rat frontal cortex at one hour and 22 at three hours, with the Selank and GABA expression changes positively correlated at one hour. In an isolated human neuroblastoma line, GABA, Selank and olanzapine were compared on GABAergic neurotransmission gene expression.
A measured connectivity change; no measured anxiety outcome outside Russia
In 52 healthy volunteers, brain connectivity around the amygdala shifted against placebo. Whether it relieves anxiety in patients has not been shown in any accessible trial.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Placebo-controlled resting-state fMRI found differences in right amygdala connectivity with right temporal cortex after Selank. The anxiolytic indication rests on Russian clinical reports that are unregistered and, according to the Belgian national control laboratory, do not correspond to any completed clinical trial the laboratory could identify.
No suggested links are held for this record, so nothing is hidden from this path.
What we know
The record describes 5 steps from taking it to an effect in a person.
How we know it
Each step names the study behind it in the technical detail beside it.
What this does not prove
A change inside the body is a reason to look. It is not a result in a person.
Why it matters
A reader can see exactly where the chain stops being measured in people.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim binds any of these steps to a named population.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Were people like you studied?
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it, and where the result stops carrying.
Who was studied
People similar to this profile were included.
In Russia, patients prescribed it for anxiety and neurasthenia. Elsewhere, people using nasal sprays and reconstituted powder bought online. It was also one of the two peptides a Belgian control laboratory found in unidentified seized preparations.
Who is missing from the studies
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
Where the result stopped carrying
No clinical trial of Selank has been registered on any international trial registry
A national medicines control laboratory analysing seized Selank preparations recorded that to its knowledge the peptide has not completed any clinical trials
This is a scope explorer, not a diagnosis engine.
It shows who was studied so you can see whether people similar to you were included.
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Why it might seem to do nothing
A real effect and a noticed effect are different things. These are the recorded reasons the two come apart.
It was studied in different people
The people in the studies were not much like the reader.
On this record: Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
The evidence may simply be wrong
Small early studies often do not hold up.
On this record: RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Other reasons RNAWiki checked and found nothing for (11)
It was studied for a different goal
The studies measured something else entirely. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
A different form was studied
The studied form is not the form on the shelf. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
There was nothing to correct
Where a level is already normal, topping it up may change nothing. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else had to happen too
In the studies it was paired with training, a diet or another treatment. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The change is too small to feel
A real change can still sit below what a person notices. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Day-to-day swing hides it
Sleep, food, stress and time of day move most numbers more than this would. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Not enough time yet
The studies ran longer than the person has waited. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
It was not taken as studied
Missed days change the result, and studies count them. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else changed at the same time
Two changes at once cannot be told apart afterwards. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The product may not be what it says
Contents of a sold product are not always what the label states. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
No recorded reason
RNAWiki has nothing stored that would explain it. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
None of these is a reason to take more. Taking more is not a step this page ever suggests.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What taking it involves
The recorded facts about getting hold of it and using it. Nothing here is a suggestion about what you should do.
How it is supplied
Varies by country
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
Read from the recorded approval status.
No source is stored against this line.
Form and route
Intranasal drops or spray in the Russian registered product; lyophilised powder for injection and nasal sprays elsewhere
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form and route recorded on this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
Who oversees it
RNAWiki has not recorded a supervision or regulatory status for this substance.
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
No register row and no identity class settled the question.
No source is stored against this line.
What is in the pack
The registered route is intranasal. Outside Russia the same peptide is sold as a nasal spray and as a lyophilised powder for reconstitution and injection.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on how this is sold. The rest of the recorded wording: A published comparison of intranasal and intraperitoneal administration in two mouse strains examined whether the pharmacological profile differs by route, which is the kind of question that has not been asked in humans at all.
No source is stored against this line.
Where it is registered
Regulatory records are listed in the technical disclosure at the foot of this page.
# Counted from records
Where this came from
A count of rows RNAWiki holds. It describes our records, not your body.
Register entries are stored per jurisdiction and shown with their dates.
No source is stored against this line.
Why people stop
Not recorded.
∅ Nothing recorded
Where this came from
RNAWiki holds nothing here and says so rather than guessing.
No record of why people stopped taking it is stored for this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What can go wrong
Sorted by where each line came from. A regulator's label and a report somebody sent in are not the same kind of fact.
·Worth asking a clinician aboutWritten into the record from the studies named on this page
No controlled human safety dataset is available outside the Russian registration file. The one placebo-controlled human study reported connectivity outcomes in healthy volunteers, not safety endpoints. The open question specific to this peptide is immunological: its active core is tuftsin, an immunoglobulin-derived macrophage-activating peptide, and reported effects include changes in chemokine and cytokine gene expression. Nothing is known about what chronic administration of a tuftsin analogue does to immune function in a person.
Nobody counted how many people took this and were fine, so this cannot be turned into a rate.
Over a long time. No completed tested study window is recorded, so long-term effects are not established by the registry record.
Groups the studies covered thinly. Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Does the exact form matter?
Evidence belongs to the exact thing that was tested. A different salt, a different mixture or a different preparation is a different question.
The form that was studied
Intranasal drops or spray in the Russian registered product; lyophilised powder for injection and nasal sprays elsewhere
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form used in the studies cited on this page.
No source is stored against this line.
What is sold
Outside Russia the same peptide is sold as a nasal spray and as a lyophilised powder for reconstitution and injection.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on which forms are sold. The rest of the recorded wording: A published comparison of intranasal and intraperitoneal administration in two mouse strains examined whether the pharmacological profile differs by route, which is the kind of question that has not been asked in humans at all.
No source is stored against this line.
What is recorded as being sold
10 products list this as an active ingredient in the United States drug directory. 10 of them contain it and nothing else.
FDA National Drug Code directory · 84347-103 · read 2026-08-29
They are sold as powder.
FDA National Drug Code directory · 84347-103 · read 2026-08-29
Evidence carries across two names for one substance. It does not carry across a salt, a mirror form or a mixture.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What you could measure
This one is decided with a clinician, so this section holds questions to ask rather than a plan to run.
RNAWiki could not confidently classify this substance, so no self-experiment plan is offered.
Questions worth asking
Which of the trials of Selank studied people like me?
What was measured, and for how long?
Was the result a laboratory value or a health outcome?
What would we watch for, and when would we stop?
Tracking can show whether something changed for you. It cannot show what caused it.
RNAWiki records evidence. It does not say whether this substance is right for you.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Claims that go past the evidence
Things said about this substance that sound reasonable, and the exact step that is missing between the evidence and the claim.
✗Goes past the evidence
That the reported GABA-A allosteric mechanism is established, when it rests on radioligand binding from a single laboratory without independent replication
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That a resting-state connectivity change in healthy volunteers corresponds to anxiolysis in patients
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That a Russian anxiolytic registration reflects a clinical trial programme a reader can locate and evaluate
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That the immune activity of the tuftsin core is irrelevant to chronic use for anxiety, which no human study has addressed
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What nobody knows yet
Open questions, each with why it is open and what would close it.
How much did people take in the studies?
The sources RNAWiki checked hold nothing for this field.
Why it matters. A result belongs to an amount. Without the amount the result floats free.
What would answer it
A stored source that records it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
How fast does the body clear it?
The sources RNAWiki checked hold nothing for this field.
Why it matters. Without this, nothing on this page can say how long anything lasts.
What would answer it
A stored source that records it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing populations
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing long-term data
No completed tested study window is recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
No reviewed conclusion
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing interaction studies
No interaction was found in the registers checked. Not finding one is not the same as showing there is none.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Formulation uncertainty
Several salts, forms or products of Selank are recorded. Results from one form may not transfer to another.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Mechanism not reviewed
No reviewed mechanism story exists for this substance.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Check any of this yourself
Every line above traced back to the study it came from. This is the technical layer, and the vocabulary changes here.
Every line above can be traced to the study named beside it. Follow the link and read it.
It modulates GABA binding, and not at the benzodiazepine site
In plain words
In binding experiments on brain cell membranes, Selank increased GABA binding as an allosteric modulator, and its interaction with diazepam was not additive — suggesting a different site on the same receptor.
What was measured
[3H]GABA binding on isolated brain-cell plasma membranes, alone and jointly with diazepam and olanzapine
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Vyunova et al. used radioligand receptor analysis on isolated brain-cell plasma membranes, with HPLC verification of peptide purity. Selank affected [3H]GABA binding as a positive allosteric modulator. Its joint action with benzodiazepines regulated GABA binding in a way that was not cumulative and differed from either substance alone, and Selank blocked the modulatory activity of diazepam and of olanzapine. The authors conclude that the peptide binding site and the benzodiazepine site are apparently not the same but may partially overlap, and propose subtype-selective concentration-dependent allosteric modulation of GABA receptors as one anxiolytic mechanism. This is a specific, testable claim from a single laboratory, and it has not been independently reproduced.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
It moved 45 of 84 neurotransmission genes, and so did GABA
In plain words
One hour after dosing rats, Selank had changed the expression of 45 out of 84 neurotransmission genes in frontal cortex — and the pattern correlated with what plain GABA did.
What was measured
Number of the 84 neurotransmission genes changing expression at 1 and 3 hours, and correlation with GABA
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Volkova et al. analysed 84 genes involved in neurotransmission — GABA receptor subunits, transporters, ion channels, dopamine and serotonin receptors — in rat frontal cortex one and three hours after Selank or GABA at 300 micrograms per kilogram, by real-time PCR. Forty-five genes changed significantly at one hour and 22 at three hours, with a positive correlation between the changes produced by Selank and by GABA at one hour. A companion study in IMR-32 neuroblastoma cells compared GABA, Selank and olanzapine on GABAergic neurotransmission gene expression. The authors read the correlation as support for allosteric modulation of the GABAergic system. The finding is also a reminder of what a transcriptional signature can and cannot establish: a correlation with GABA is consistent with the proposed mechanism and does not by itself demonstrate it.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Analysts who looked for the clinical trials could not find completed ones
In plain words
A Belgian medicines control laboratory identified Selank in unknown seized preparations and stated that, to its knowledge, it has not completed any clinical trials.
What was measured
That a Russian anxiolytic registration corresponds to a completed clinical trial programme an outside analyst can find
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Vanhee et al. at Sciensano encountered two unknown suspicious preparations at the end of 2017 and 2018 and identified Selank and Semax in them, describing both as assumedly cognitive-enhancing research peptides which, to their knowledge, have not completed any clinical trials. An online search excluding the dark web found these peptides freely available as lyophilised powder for injection or in nasal sprays. The laboratory developed and validated a combined LC-MS/MS method covering ten such polypeptides sold online, complying with the European OMCL network recommendation on interpreting unknown-peptide screening results and validated across matrices to ISO 17025. Selank holds a Russian marketing authorisation as an anxiolytic; the trials behind it are not identifiable from outside.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
The one placebo-controlled human study measured brain connectivity, not anxiety
In plain words
Fifty-two healthy volunteers were scanned before and after Selank, Semax or placebo. The study measured how brain regions communicated, not whether anyone felt less anxious.
What was measured
Resting-state amygdala functional connectivity before and 5 and 20 minutes after Selank, Semax or placebo in 52 healthy participants
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Panikratova et al. at the Mental Health Research Center, Moscow, assessed the effects of Selank and Semax on whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity in 52 healthy participants. Regions of interest were the amygdala, a key region for anxiety regulation, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, key for executive function, in both hemispheres. Resting-state functional MRI was performed three times: before, and 5 and 20 minutes after injection of Semax, Selank or placebo. Between-group and between-condition differences were found in connectivity between the right amygdala and a region spanning fusiform, inferior and middle temporal and parahippocampal gyri in the right hemisphere, with post hoc analysis defining general and specific effects of the two peptides. This is a placebo-controlled human experiment and its endpoint is a connectivity measure in healthy people, not a symptom measure in patients.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
A consistent animal literature in stress, alcohol and withdrawal
In plain words
Rodent studies report Selank reducing anxiety under chronic stress, protecting memory after alcohol, and easing morphine withdrawal signs.
What was measured
Anxiety, memory, locomotor sensitisation and withdrawal endpoints across rodent stress, ethanol and morphine models
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Published rodent work includes enhancement of the anxiety-reducing effect of diazepam under unpredictable chronic mild stress, protection against ethanol-induced memory impairment with regulation of hippocampal BDNF, inhibition of ethanol-induced hyperlocomotion and behavioural sensitisation in DBA/2 mice, attenuation of aversive signs of morphine withdrawal, effects on behaviour in 6-hydroxydopamine-induced parkinsonism, and changes in colon microbiota, large intestine morphology and liver morphology under chronic restraint or foot-shock stress. The direction is consistent and the range of models is wide. It is also almost entirely from Russian institutions, in rodents, published largely in Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, and none of it is a human outcome.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
A peptide with an immune origin sold for anxiety
In plain words
The core of Selank is tuftsin, an immune-stimulating fragment of an antibody. Its reported effects include changes in cytokine levels, which the anxiolytic framing does not address.
What was measured
That the immune activity of the tuftsin core is irrelevant to a peptide taken chronically for anxiety, which no human study has examined
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Tuftsin, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg, is released from the heavy chain of immunoglobulin G and stimulates phagocytosis and other macrophage functions. Selank retains that core. Reported effects include changes in the expression of chemokine and cytokine genes and their receptors in response to Selank and its fragments, and changes in cytokine levels under social stress. Whether the anxiolytic effect and the immune effect are the same phenomenon, related phenomena, or independent ones is unresolved. A drug marketed for anxiety whose active core is an immune-stimulating peptide, without a human immunological safety dataset, is an open question rather than a described profile.
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The older medicine-wide conclusion held in this record
Written for a clinical reader, and about the medicine as a whole rather than about one indication, population and set of trials. RNAWiki does not treat it as a programme conclusion and no reviewer has signed it off in that form. It is here word for word because it is what the record holds.
A tuftsin analogue reported to modulate GABA binding allosterically at a site that is not the benzodiazepine site, registered as an anxiolytic in Russia, with one placebo-controlled human study in the indexed literature — a 52-person brain-imaging experiment that measured connectivity, not anxiety.
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