Focus & mind

Selank

A synthetic analogue of the immunomodulatory peptide tuftsin.

About

Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide derived from tuftsin, an endogenous immunomodulatory tetrapeptide, extended with a stabilising tripeptide sequence. It was developed alongside Semax within the same research programme and is studied principally in the context of anxiety and stress-response models rather than cognition.

Mechanism

Research associates Selank with modulation of the GABAergic system and with expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Published work also describes interaction with enkephalin degradation, which would prolong the activity of endogenous opioid peptides. Reports characterise the anxiolytic profile observed in animal models as occurring without the sedation associated with benzodiazepine compounds, though this comparison rests on preclinical rather than head-to-head clinical evidence.

What research has examined

Selank has been examined in animal models of anxiety and in limited clinical work on generalised anxiety, largely within Russian literature.