Pinealon

Relevance to Vision Research

Retinal ganglion cells are central nervous system neurons with long, metabolically demanding axons. Neuroprotective peptides that reduce oxidative stress and suppress apoptosis are studied in the context of RGC survival and optic-nerve integrity.

An animated map of the visual pathway, from the eye through the brain to the systemic processes of aging. Highlighted nodes mark the structures Pinealon is studied against.

Illustrative research map : highlighted structures reflect the published in-vitro / preclinical literature, not human outcomes.

Summaries of observations reported in published in-vitro and preclinical research. These are research-model findings, not established human outcomes, and not claims of benefit, safety, or efficacy. Supplied for laboratory research use only.

Three residues from a cortical extract

Pinealon is a tripeptide, Glu-Asp-Arg, drawn from the same Russian bioregulation tradition as Epitalon. Where Epitalon traces to a pineal preparation, EDR was identified as an active sequence within Cortexin, a polypeptide complex isolated from cerebral cortex.

Three residues is about as short as a peptide gets while still being a peptide, and the same caution applies here as to the rest of this literature: the proposed mechanism involves direct interaction with DNA regulatory regions, most of the work comes from one research tradition, and independent replication outside that tradition is limited. We think the structural chemistry is interesting and the evidence base is narrow, and both of those things can be true at once.

Why a neuroprotection peptide sits in a vision catalogue

Because retinal ganglion cells are central nervous system neurons. They are not a special ocular cell type that happens to live in the eye: they are projection neurons whose axons form the optic nerve and terminate in the brain, and they behave like CNS neurons in how they respond to oxidative stress and how they die.

That is why apoptosis research is relevant to the retina at all. The published EDR literature reports reduced reactive oxygen species, caspase-3 modulation, and dendritic spine restoration in in-vitro and animal models of neural tissue, which is the same machinery implicated in retinal ganglion cell loss in glaucoma and optic neuropathy models. Our survey of that work is in the neuroprotection note, and the docking study against neuronal DNA regulatory domains is here.

The connection is mechanistic and indirect. No published work establishes an outcome in human vision, and this page does not suggest one.

What this vial is for

Catalogued as a sequence-defined peptide reference standard for neuroprotection and oxidative-stress assays: ROS quantification in cultured neurons, caspase activity assays, apoptosis panels, and nucleic-acid interaction or docking work requiring a characterised EDR standard.

Identity is confirmed by LC-MS and purity by HPLC to a ≥99% specification. As with the other short, highly charged sequences here, that confirmation is worth having rather than assuming.

Why It Is Used

Molecular Identity

CAS Number

175175-23-2

Molecular Formula

C₁₅H₂₆N₆O₈

Molecular Weight

418.41 g/mol

Sequence

H-Glu-Asp-Arg-OH (EDR)

Purity

≥ 99.0% (HPLC, area)

Format

Lyophilized powder, vacuum-sealed vial

Analytical Specification

Research Context

Pinealon (EDR) is a synthetic tripeptide derived from the active sequence of Cortexin, a polypeptide complex isolated from the cerebral cortex. The published literature (primarily from the Khavinson bioregulation group) reports in-vitro and animal-model studies of its proposed neuroprotective mechanisms, including ROS reduction, caspase-3 modulation, and dendritic spine restoration. Catalogued here as a sequence-defined peptide reference standard for neuronal viability and oxidative-stress assays.