Everything below concerns lyophilization. We keep the language plain, cite what the science says, and separate well-supported claims from open questions.
Last reviewed on 2025-08-04. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
The mechanisms attributed to semax are inferred from animal and cell studies rather than traced to one confirmed target. The most frequently cited pathway involves increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor in hippocampal and cortical tissue. Some work points to engagement of melanocortin receptors, particularly MC4, which the parent ACTH fragment can activate. Effects on dopaminergic and serotonergic signalling have also been reported. No single account explains all observed results, and the relative weight of each pathway remains unsettled.
Published studies examine a fairly narrow set of endpoints. Rodent experiments commonly measure maze learning, infarct volume after induced ischemia, and tissue levels of neurotrophic factors. Clinical reports from Russian centres describe attention, memory and recovery scores in patients after stroke or transient ischemic attack. Most of those human studies are small and few have been repeated by independent groups. Outcome measures differ between studies, which limits direct comparison.
Circulation time for the peptide is short because peptidases cleave it readily. The Pro-Gly-Pro tail is thought to slow breakdown compared with the bare ACTH fragment, but the gain appears modest. Absorption after intranasal dosing is limited, and only a fraction of a dose is expected to reach the central nervous system. Laboratory concentrations therefore sit well above levels achieved systemically, a gap that complicates translation from bench findings to clinical claims.
Lyophilized material is chemically stable for extended periods when kept dry, cold, and protected from light. The powder is hygroscopic, so vials should be warmed to room temperature before opening to reduce condensation on the contents. Once dissolved, the peptide is far less stable because peptide bonds are susceptible to hydrolysis and the methionine residue can oxidize. Solutions are typically aliquoted and held at 2-8 °C for short intervals or frozen for longer ones, and repeated freeze-thaw cycles should be avoided.
Routine characterization relies on reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography to establish purity and on mass spectrometry to confirm molecular identity. Electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization are both used for mass verification. Amino acid analysis and peptide mapping can detect sequence errors. Common impurities include truncated sequences, methionine sulfoxide formed by oxidation, and deamidated products. Chromatograms are usually recorded near 214 nm, where the peptide backbone absorbs, and purity is reported as the percentage area of the principal peak.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Lyophilized solid from research suppliers |
| Solubility | Freely soluble in water | Also dissolves in aqueous buffers; solutions are used fresh |
| Typical storage temperature | -20 °C for lyophilized powder | Short-term transport at 2-8 °C is common |
| Common analytical method | Reverse-phase HPLC | Paired with mass spectrometry for identity confirmation |
| Common synonyms | ACTH(4-10) analogue; MEHFPGP | N-terminal methionine retained in the chain |
溶液状态的稳定性明显低于冻干粉。肽类在水溶液中可能经历水解、氧化与聚集，其中甲硫氨酸和天冬酰胺等残基常是敏感位点。Semax 含有甲硫氨酸，因此氧化风险相对突出。工作液一般主张现配现用，或冷藏并在数日内用尽。缓冲液种类、pH 和离子强度都会影响降解速率，而关于最佳条件的公开数据并不统一。
常规纯度与身份确认依赖反相高效液相色谱，并辅以质谱测定分子量。氨基酸组成分析可用于验证序列构成，肽图分析则能进一步定位修饰或降解产物。杂质谱通常关注缺失序列肽、截短片段和氧化产物。不同方法的检出限并不相同，因此各实验室报告的纯度数值不宜直接横向比较。
Semax is normally supplied as a lyophilized powder, and that form is the most stable. Suppliers commonly recommend storage at -20 °C in a desiccated container protected from light, with short-term handling at room temperature limited to weighing and transfer. Powder that has absorbed moisture degrades faster, so vials should be warmed to ambient temperature before opening to prevent condensation on the contents. Hygroscopic behavior is typical of short hydrophilic peptides, and humidity control matters more than temperature alone for long-term retention.
Once dissolved, the peptide is considerably less stable than the solid. Aqueous solutions are usually prepared at neutral to slightly acidic pH, filtered, and divided into single-use aliquots before freezing. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles are a common cause of avoidable loss and are best prevented by never refreezing a thawed aliquot. Adsorption to plastic and glass surfaces can lower the measured concentration of dilute solutions, particularly below roughly 0.1 mg/mL. Buffer choice, salt content, and container material all influence how much peptide remains detectable after storage.
Identity and purity are established with standard peptide methods. Reversed-phase HPLC with ultraviolet detection near 214 nm resolves the parent peak from deletion and truncation byproducts, and reports typically quote a main-peak percentage. Mass spectrometry by electrospray or MALDI-TOF confirms the expected molecular mass, while amino acid analysis or peptide mapping can verify composition when the sequence itself is in question. A certificate of analysis that pairs a chromatogram with a mass spectrum is more informative than a purity figure alone. Counter-ion content and residual solvents are separate specifications and are frequently omitted.
Published research covers ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, cognitive impairment, optic nerve conditions and attention-related measures. Much of the human evidence comes from small trials conducted in one country, which limits how far the results generalize. Animal models supply the larger share of the data, and effects seen in rodents do not transfer automatically to people. Reviews have noted that methodological reporting is often incomplete, making it difficult to pool results or compare treatment schedules across studies.
Pharmacokinetic accounts emphasize rapid breakdown. After intravenous dosing the intact peptide disappears from blood within minutes, and nasal delivery produces low but measurable concentrations. Metabolites rather than the parent molecule may account for part of the observed activity, although the relative contribution is unresolved. Dosing in the literature varies widely and no optimal schedule has been agreed. These gaps are regularly cited as a reason the findings have not produced broad clinical adoption beyond the original research setting.
Proposed mechanisms center on neurotrophic signaling rather than on classical melanocortin receptor activation. Rodent experiments have reported shifts in the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor after administration, together with changes in the associated receptor systems. Several authors argue that the peptide acts largely through its degradation products and their interaction with peptidergic pathways, but this remains a hypothesis rather than a settled finding. No single molecular target has been identified in a way that the field broadly accepts.
=== Sentencing and imprisonment === On August 16, 2010, Judge Keenan sentenced Banki to 30 months in prison. Shortly after being sentenced Banki filed for appeal. The Iranian American Bar Association along with 10 other advocacy and civil rights groups filed a separate amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The brief argued that U.S.-Iran sanctions "are not aimed at the Iranian people, and therefore they contain exemptions permitting certain humanitarian transactions and family remittances." For about 11 months (from January 7, 2010, through December 1, 2010) Banki was held in high and maximum security detention centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn (MCC and MDC) with BOP# 63037-054. For the month of December in 2010, Banki was transferred to the Taft Correctional Institute's deportation prison outside of Bakersfield in California. In January 2011, Banki was transferred to the lower security Taft prison where he remained pending the appellate decision. Upon release Banki had served 665 days, nearly 22 months in prison.
DMT binds non-selectively with affinities below 0.6 μmol/L to the following serotonin receptors: 5-HT1A, 5-HT1B, 5-HT1D, 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, 5-HT2C, 5-HT6, and 5-HT7. An agonist action has been determined at 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C. Its efficacies at other serotonin receptors remain to be determined. Of special interest will be the determination of its efficacy at human 5-HT2B receptor as two in vitro assays evidenced DMT's high affinity for this receptor: 0.108 μmol/L and 0.184 μmol/L. This may be of importance because chronic or frequent uses of serotonergic drugs showing preferential high affinity and clear agonism at 5-HT2B receptor have been causally linked to valvular heart disease. It has also been shown to possess affinity for the dopamine D1, α1-adrenergic, α2-adrenergic, imidazoline-1, and σ1 receptors. Converging lines of evidence established activation of the σ1 receptor at concentrations of 50–100 μmol/L. Its efficacies at the other receptor binding sites are unclear. It has also been shown in vitro to be a substrate for the cell-surface serotonin transporter (SERT) expressed in human platelets, and the rat vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2), which was transiently expressed in fall armyworm Sf9 cells. DMT inhibited SERT-mediated serotonin uptake into platelets at an average concentration of 4.00 ± 0.70 μmol/L and VMAT2-mediated serotonin uptake at an average concentration of 93 ± 6.8 μmol/L.
Originally a Russian production, all in Russian with subtitles, produced by Maciej Drygas 15 October High Anxiety, about lifts and the required extensive technology of tall office buildings; Canary Wharf Tower (One Canada Square) had 50 floors with 36 lifts, which could travel up to 13.5 mph; Jim Fortune of Lerch Bates; novelist Philip Kerr; Otis Elevators alarm response centre of Farmington, Connecticut, which dealt with trapped passengers - it took about 20 minutes to rescue people; the Otis Test Tower, at Bristol in Connecticut, which had 29 floors and 11 lifts; architect Ken Yeang of Malaysia, known for his tall buildings; Gary Faltin of Otis; in the distant past, due to ropes, only goods were carried by lifts; in 1853 Elisha Otis invented a safety system for lifts, via a governor cable; only once have steel lift cables snapped, on 28 July 1945, in the 1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash after being lost in fog, severing the lift governor cable; if the cable snapped, due to the lift being balanced only after about nine people were in a lift, the lift would go upwards; on 12 August 1995, in the Empire State Building, a lift did go upwards, to be trapped at the 80th floor; the Woolworth Building, with 57 floors and 26 lifts, which could travel up to 10 mph - it was the world's tallest building from 1911 to 1930; engineer William Sheeran of Otis; medical doctor Rollin Stott, of the Linear Motion Laboratory of the Defence Research Agency (DERA) Centre for Human Sciences in north-east Hampshire; the feelings in the stomach, often sensed in a lift, comes from a pulse of adrenaline; Convent of Sacred Heart, with six floors; Nicole Fenchel was phobic of lifts; Doreen Powell of White Plains Hospital; the express lift, for the observation platform, in Tower 2 of the former World Trade Center had a journey time of 58 seconds; the former WTC had the world's second and third tallest office buildings; Tower 1 had 110 floors, being 417 metres high, with 96 lifts that could travel up to 15 mph; 70,000 people worked in the former WTC; people should not have to wait for a lift for no more than 30 seconds; Roger Howkins of Arup in London; 200 Vesey Street, known as Three World Financial Center, with 51 floors and 39 lifts, that could travel up to 14 mph; the former WTC was the first building to introduce the sky lobby design, with interspersed lifts; Robert DiChiara, assistant director of the former WTC; engineer Bruce Powell of Otis; Argentine architect, César Pelli, who designed One Canada Square of Canary Wharf; control systems of lifts anticipated demand; but there was a dark and menacing side to travel by lifts - Detectives Kevin Dineen and Lisa McClean of the NYPD Elevator Squad, at Carver Houses in the East Village, Manhattan, and how criminals could isolate victims; local youths and children would travel on top of the elevators for momentary thrills; the New York Marriott Marquis hotel, with 49 floors and 12 elevators, which could travel up to 15 mph; the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, with 88 floors, and 76 lifts, that could travel up to 16 mph, to be completed by 1997; lift ropes could go up to 600 metres, at the extreme most; new lifts would be powered by tubular linear motors or AC induction motors; 600 lifts with these new motors were operating in Japan; Yebisu Garden Place in Ebisu, Shibuya in Tokyo, where linear motors powered the lift counterweight; the Nishi-Shinjuku district in Shinjuku, Tokyo; many tall buildings were being built in Japan; Riverside Sumida Center, of Tokyo, built in 1994; the Yokohama Landmark Tower, with 70 floors, in Japan, built in 1993; Mitsubishi Electric had the world's fastest lifts, up to 28 mph; Junichi Sato of Mitsubishi, who said that he thought that Japanese people valued well-made products, and only trusted manufacturers too, whereas he thought that Americans and Europeans merely wanted functional products, whether good or not; the proposed enormous 800 metre Millennium Tower (Tokyo) for Tokyo Bay, with 150 floors, which was never built, but the Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) was built instead; architect Andrew Miller of Foster Asia; there were twenty buildings over 60 floors being built; the Chinese economy was growing by 15% per year, and was Mitsubishi's biggest customer; the Century Tower (Tokyo), built in 1991, with 21 floors, with 14 lifts, that could travel up to 11 mph; lift technology had allowed Western business to prosper, but now it was superfluous for Western business. Narrated by Paul McGann, produced by Elizabeth Allen, directed by Gary Johnstone, made by Diverse Productions 22 October DNA in the Dock, an Equinox Special that was an update on the Incredible Evidence episode on 28 December 1994; The murder of 15-year-old Claire Hood, last seen on 19 January 1995, where 2,100 men had their DNA tested; her body was found in Cath Cobb Woods the next day; Sir Alec Jeffreys claimed that he could tell anyone apart; Timothy Wilson Spencer was the first person to be executed, with DNA evidence, on 27 April 1994, having committed murder in 1988; DCI Stuart Lewis, who worked on the Claire Hood investigation, who believed that her killer lived nearby - her killer lived 100 yards away; the United Kingdom National DNA Database began earlier in 1995, and in six months, 60,000 DNA specimens were recorded, and the database was intended to have 5 million specimens; an investigation of Orchid Cellmark, part of ICI, found that errors in correlation of specimens were made; California police gave test specimens to Cellmark, and errors were found, which Cellmark attributed to cross-contamination; Donald Findlay and a Scottish rape investigation in Largs, North Ayrshire, in 1987; former policeman Brian Kelly, and his wrongful conviction, for six years, serving four of them, for rape on 30 November 1989, through DNA evidence alone - DNA testing would later change in 1990, where crime scene DNA specimens were kept apart; Kary Mullis, who invented the PCR test in 1983, receiving the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and knew about errors in DNA genetic testing; David Werrett of the Forensic Science Service, who set up the UK national DNA database in Birmingham, which deployed the PCR method - the more reliable Second Generation Multiplex Plus would be later introduced in 1999; Don Dovaston, later the deputy chief of Derbyshire Constabulary, which was the first police force to identify suspects through the UK DNA database; the Metropolitan Police had its own DNA database; Larry Mueller, population geneticist at the UCI School of Biological Sciences. Produced by David Poyser, directed by Hilary Lawson, made by TVF 5 November Kaboom!, the explosives engineer Sidney Alford; Controlled Demolition, Inc., founded by Jack Loizeaux; Rev Ron Lancaster, originally from Huddersfield, who founded Kimbolton Fireworks in 1964, when a chemistry teacher at Kimbolton School; in 1847 Ascanio Sobrero of Italy discovered nitroglycerin - nitroglycerin is the main component of dynamite; a detonation occurs at supersonic speed; Semtex was developed in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s; Ballistite, made from nitroglycerin and discovered in 1887, is the propellant for guns. Joint-production with NOVA and WGBH. Shown on Nova on 14 January 1997 12 November Avalanche, avalanches kill around two hundred people a year, with 120 of those in the Alps; Swiss physicist Othmar Buser of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), who developed a database of avalanches; Bruce Tremper; Doug Fesler; powder snow avalanches can reach 150 mph; Laurent Buisson. Narrated by Heather Couper, made by Pioneer Productions with Discovery Networks 19 November God only Knows, about how some physicists see theology being explained through physics, such as Frank J. Tipler of Tulane University and his book The Physics of Immortality; George Johnson (writer) and book titles; Lewis Wolpert and how there was no evidence for God in the external world; David Finley of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory; religious writer Karen Armstrong, author of A History of God; Brazilian physicist Marcelo Gleiser; physicist Leon M. Lederman; Russell Stannard and physics before the big bang; the KTeV experiment at Fermilab, which looked at kaons, and Vivian O'Dell; Rev John Polkinghorne, former professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Cambridge. Narrated by Bill Paterson, produced by Nicolas Kent, directed by Peter Webber 26 November Gloria's Toxic Death, about the death of Gloria Ramirez in California on 19 February 1994; a nurse, who took a blood sample from her, passed out from inhaling an unknown vapour coming from the blood sample; few episodes of Doctor Who had such a bizarre and unbelievable storyline; blood tests from the nurses revealed a lowering of the enzyme cholinesterase, which in other cases is linked to organophosphate poisoning; the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory proposed a connection to dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) that had combined with oxygen given in the hospital to make dimethyl sulfate; the conditions of the hospital were repeated in a test, and the results underwent gas chromatography–mass spectrometry by Yolanda de Miguel at Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London. Narrated by Neil Pearson, directed by Tim Shawcross, produced by Geoff Deehan, made by Union Pictures with Discovery Communications 3 December On Jupiter, about the large gravitational effect that Jupiter has on the solar system; if the mass of Jupiter was thirty times bigger, the heat in its centre could sustain nuclear reactions, and it could become a star, maybe a brown dwarf; Gene Shoemaker of the Lowell Observatory and Palomar Observatory; Galileo Galilei discovered Jupiter's moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede (the largest moon in the solar system), and Callisto, on 7 January 1610; Heidi Hammel of MIT; Galileo (spacecraft), built at JPL and Ames in the 1980s, being planned to have launched in 1982, arrived at Jupiter on 7 December 1995; Torrence Johnson of JPL; Jim Scotti of the Spacewatch project at Kitt Peak National Observatory; Brian G. Marsden of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams; Vicki Meadows of the Anglo-Australian Telescope; Imke de Pater of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea; David Morrison (astrophysicist) of NASA Ames. Narrated by John Hurt, directed by Richard Smith, made by Pioneer Productions and the Discovery Channel 10 December Designing Dream Machines, about product innovation and product design of food processors and a reinvented motorbike by the Seymour-Powell design agency and its designer Nick Talbot, with the management team of Tefal UK and its managing director and a design by 43-year-old Dick Powell, and a possible new design of the ubiquitous 125CC BSA Bantam motorbike for MZ Motorrad- und Zweiradwerk of Germany by 42-year-old Richard Seymour; the 59 Club; Leigh Martin of the defunct Comet (closed in December 2012). Narrated by Marilyn Milgrom, directed by Richard Burke, produced by Richard Reisz. TV6 went on to make the six-part series Better by Design 17 December It Runs on Water, about the field commonly known as fringe science, where physicist Frank Close was sceptical if not broadly dismissive, stating that 300 years of science could not be overruled, but a professor of Aeronautics Paul Csysz of Saint Louis University mentioned that he thought some people in science were often unquestioning of their lifelong-held beliefs, and nervous of anyone trying to do so; an invention in Moscow was looked at by American physicist Harold E. Puthoff; Stanley Meyer's water fuel cell; NASA's propulsion research at Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; it ends with Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Requiem (Mozart). Directed by Lawrence Simanowitz, produced and narrated by William Woollard, made by InCA Productions with Discovery Communications 20 December Do Vampire Bats have Friends?, an Equinox Special about whether animals have consciousness; zoologist Prof John Krebs, Baron Krebs, and whether animals had human-like sentience; biologist Gerald Wilkinson of the University of Maryland, and research, over five years, into relationships of vampire bats with other types of animals, and found food sharing between hungry vampire bats; zoologist Miriam Rothschild; psychologist Cecilia Heyes of UCL and self-perception of chimpanzees; zoologist Bernd Heinrich of the University of Vermont, and puzzle-solving of raven birds; zoologist Benjamin Beck of The National Zoo, and the apparent deployment of tools by animals; Ian Farquhar, and foxhunting, and whether foxes realise their predicament, and the Duke of Beaufort's Hunt in Gloucestershire; biologist Sir Patrick Bateson of the University of Cambridge, sensation of pain in animals, and the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which defined protected animals, that did not cover the octopus, but due to research by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW); Prof Peter Boyle and Martin Wells, and a 1993 amendment added the octopus; Prof Daniel Dennett of Tufts University, and how snakes think; psychologist Irene Pepper berg, of the University of Arizona, and an African Grey parrot called Alex, who has been talking for 18 years; the horse Clever Hans; Robert Seyfarth (scientist) and Dorothy Cheney (scientist), and their work on baboon warning calls and grunts, in Kenya. Narrated by Andrew Sachs, directed by Christopher Sykes, made by Christopher Sykes Productions
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Sexual dysfunction === Selegiline has been assessed for treatment of sexual dysfunction induced by antipsychotics in people with schizophrenia, but was not effective in a single small clinical study. It also did not improve sexual function in men with depression, but did improve several domains of sexual function in women with depression.
Hazard research is published: a study finds the likelihood of receiving a dementia diagnosis varies 2-fold based on place of residence in the U.S. after adjusting for underlying sociodemographic and population dementia risk factors, indicating there to be further regional risk factors or especially worse diagnostics (16 Aug.), and a study shows of the infant and toddler foods in 10 major grocery chains, 60% failed to meet the nutritional requirements of the WHO's nutrient and promotion profile model (NPPM) (21 Aug.).
=== Catalysis === Using silver nanoparticles for catalysis has been gaining attention in recent years. Although the most common applications are for medicinal or antibacterial purposes, silver nanoparticles have been demonstrated to show catalytic redox properties for dyes, benzene, and carbon monoxide. Other untested compounds may use silver nanoparticles for catalysis, but the field is not fully explored. NOTE: This paragraph is a general description of nanoparticle properties for catalysis; it is not exclusive to silver nanoparticles. The size of a nanoparticle greatly determines the properties that it exhibits due to various quantum effects. Additionally, the chemical environment of the nanoparticle plays a large role on the catalytic properties. With this in mind, it is important to note that heterogeneous catalysis takes place by adsorption of the reactant species to the catalytic substrate. When polymers, complex ligands, or surfactants are used to prevent coalescence of the nanoparticles, the catalytic ability is frequently hindered due to reduced adsorption ability. However, these compounds can also be used in such a way that the chemical environment enhances the catalytic ability.
Finally, a study of children with pre-type 1 diabetes (base on their having antibodies against multiple pancreatic islet antigens) found that children who had low levels of SCFA-producing intestinal bacteria had a higher risk of progressing to type 1 diabetes than those with higher intestinal levels of these bacteria. These results suggest that the activation of FFAR2 by intestinal SCFAs suppresses the development of type 1 diabetes in mice and humans and may do so by reducing the inflammation with injures pancreatic islet cells.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It consists mainly of animal experiments and small clinical reports, with much of the clinical material published in Russian-language journals. Large independent trials are scarce. Separating reliable effects from chance findings is consequently difficult.
A fraction of an intranasal dose is thought to reach the central nervous system, and this route is favoured partly for that reason. The proportion is not well characterized. Direct measurement in humans remains difficult with current methods.
Raised BDNF and NGF expression has been reported across several animal studies, which makes the signal fairly consistent. Whether the same change occurs in humans at usable doses is not established. It is best treated as a working hypothesis rather than a confirmed clinical mechanism.
Dry powder is normally held at -20 °C or lower, away from light and moisture. Sealed vials can also be kept at 2-8 °C for shorter intervals. Warming to room temperature before opening prevents condensation.