Research Comparison
Selank vs Semax
A side-by-side research comparison of Selank and Semax drawn from DRPSHP' peptide database records.
Selank
Selank begins with tuftsin, a four-residue fragment of the immunoglobulin G heavy chain that immunology has studied for its effects on phagocytic cells. Adding Pro-Gly-Pro to it, to slow enzymatic breakdown, gives the seven-residue peptide Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. It was developed in Russia and the evidence base reflects that: the great majority of published work comes from Russian groups, consists of rodent behavioural and gene-expression experiments with some small clinical studies, and a good deal of it appeared in Russian-language journals. Independent investigation outside Russia is sparse, which is the main thing to hold in mind when reading any claim about it.
Semax
Semax is a seven-residue synthetic peptide, Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro, derived from a short piece of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Its first four residues correspond to positions 4 to 7 of ACTH, while the Pro-Gly-Pro tail has no counterpart there and is reported to slow breakdown by peptidases. Short ACTH fragments like this are described as lacking the steroid-releasing action of the full hormone. Semax was developed in Russia, and most of what has been published comes from Russian groups using rats and cell cultures. Controlled human studies are few, many appear only in Russian, and independent replication elsewhere is limited.
Reading a comparison
A comparison places two records side by side; it does not merge them. Each description above is drawn from that compound's own record, and the two were not necessarily characterised by the same methods, at the same time, or to the same level of detail. Before comparing any attribute, it is worth establishing that both records describe the substance you think they describe — names are not identifiers, and two entries sharing a name can differ in salt form, stereochemistry or the convention used to state a mass. Where a figure carries no method beside it, the comparison is between two reported numbers rather than between two measurements.