Cartalax Research Peptide

Cartalax is a synthetic tripeptide with the sequence Ala-Glu-Asp and a molecular weight of about 333. It comes from Vladimir Khavinson’s short-peptide bioregulator research programme and has been studied mainly in ageing skin fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem cells and kidney models. Crown Peptides will supply it at 20mg per vial; it is also listed as AED peptide or T-31.

It is the sequence in single-letter amino acid code: A for alanine, E for glutamic acid and D for aspartic acid. Most journal papers use AED rather than the name Cartalax, and some older kidney studies use the code T-31, so searching all three terms gives the fullest view of the literature.

Like other bioregulator names, it points to the tissue the peptide is associated with. Cartalax is linked to cartilage and connective tissue research, which fits the published fibroblast work on matrix enzymes and collagen I synthesis. Pinealon, by comparison, takes its name from the pineal gland and brain research it is associated with.

All three are short synthetic peptides from the same research programme. Pinealon is Glu-Asp-Arg and is studied in neuronal and oxidative stress models. Epitalon is the four-residue Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, which means Cartalax is effectively Epitalon without its final glycine. That close relationship is why the two are often tested side by side, as AED and AEDG, in the same experiments.

Fibroblasts produce collagen and the other proteins of the extracellular matrix, and they show clear, measurable changes as they age in culture: less proliferation, more matrix-degrading enzymes and more apoptosis. That makes them a practical model for connective tissue ageing, and a good fit for a peptide associated with cartilage and connective tissue.

Sirtuins are enzymes that help regulate gene activity, DNA repair and metabolism, and sirtuin-1 and sirtuin-6 in particular are widely studied in ageing research. Measuring them alongside collagen I let researchers see whether AED affected both the structural output of fibroblasts and the regulatory machinery linked to cellular ageing. In that study, AED raised all three.

Cartalax is fully synthetic. It is made by joining three amino acids, alanine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid, in a fixed order, rather than being extracted from animal tissue. That sets it apart from the polypeptide complexes used in earlier bioregulator research, which contain many different molecules and can vary from batch to batch.

In human mesenchymal stem cells aged in culture, the short peptides tested, including AED, raised IGF1 gene expression 3.5 to 5.6-fold and stimulated NFκB gene expression. The authors noted that these effects appeared at nanomolar concentrations, which supports the idea that very short peptides can act as signals for gene expression rather than as bulk nutrients.

They overlapped in some results and diverged in others. In fibroblasts, all of them lowered MMP-9 and raised Ki-67, but only AED and AEDG suppressed caspase-dependent apoptosis. In a later fibroblast study, KE mainly reduced inflammatory markers, while AED stood out for raising sirtuin-1, sirtuin-6 and collagen I. Those differences are what make side-by-side tripeptide studies informative.

Yes. As T-31, AED stimulated proliferation and reduced apoptosis in kidney tissue cultures from young and old rats, and in a rat model of cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury it reduced protein excretion and urine electrolyte concentrations. Related peptides in the same studies, such as EDL, produced broader effects, which gives researchers useful comparison points.

The leading idea in this research field is that very short peptides can enter cells and interact directly with DNA. Computer modelling of AED found that it fits most favourably into the minor groove of AT-rich DNA sequences, and the same group reported that AED lowered the senescence markers p16, p21 and p53 and raised SIRT-6 in ageing kidney cells. The modelling is a proposed explanation rather than a proven mechanism, but it gives researchers a clear hypothesis to test.

Cartalax is not a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and it is not a licensed medicine in the UK. It is sold in the UK as a research compound for laboratory use only, which is how Crown Peptides supplies it. This is general information, not legal advice.

Cartalax is coming soon to Crown Peptides in 20mg vials, available singly or in packs of 5 or 10 with a saving on every vial. Orders ship from the UK, and every batch is independently tested, with its Certificate of Analysis published on this page once stock arrives.

Twenty milligrams of a 333-dalton peptide is roughly 60 micromoles, a generous quantity for cell culture work at the nanomolar concentrations used in the published studies. The 5 and 10-vial packs keep a longer project on a single batch, which makes results easier to compare from start to finish.

Keep the unreconstituted powder at -20°C ± 5°C, dry and away from light. Short acidic peptides like AED are generally stable as a dry powder, but repeated warming and cooling should be avoided, and prepared solutions should follow storage conditions validated for your study design. Each batch’s Certificate of Analysis documents the material as dispatched.