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A literature digest on GHK-Cu, the copper tripeptide — read at the level of the record, from fibroblast culture to the rodent brain.
Peptide GHK-Cu

SOURCES // 15 ENTRIES

GHK-Cu sources: the fifteen studies every marker on this site resolves to

Authors, journal, year, DOI and identifier. Preprints are labelled as preprints.

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How to read this list

Every numbered marker on this site resolves to an entry below, and nothing on this site cites a study that is not on it. The list spans the 1988 FEBS Letters fibroblast dose-response, the 2008 tissue-remodeling review, the 2011 human skin-penetration measurement, the 2015 skin-regeneration review, the 2016 randomised hair trial, the 2018 gene-expression analysis, the 2024 Metallomics CNS mechanism paper and the 2025 anti-wrinkle delivery review, plus the rodent behavioural and biomaterial work.

Two entries — numbers 7 and 8 — are bioRxiv preprints. They carry the neuroprotection lens this digest is built around, and they have not been peer reviewed. Every time either is cited in the body copy it is named as a preprint. Where a paper is paywalled, the DOI and PubMed identifier are given so the record can be retrieved. This is the GHK-Cu study index referenced from every page.

  1. Maquart FX, Pickart L, Laurent M, Gillery P, Monboisse JC, Borel JP. Stimulation of collagen synthesis in fibroblast cultures by the tripeptide-copper complex glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu2+. FEBS Letters. 1988;238(2):343-346. ↗
  2. Pickart L, Margolina A. Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2018;19(7):1987. ↗
  3. Pickart L, Vasquez-Soltero JM, Margolina A. GHK Peptide as a Natural Modulator of Multiple Cellular Pathways in Skin Regeneration. BioMed Research International. 2015;2015:648108. ↗
  4. Lee WJ, Sim HB, Jang YH, Lee SJ, Kim DW, Yim SH. Efficacy of a Complex of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid and Glycyl-Histidyl-Lysine Peptide on Hair Growth. Annals of Dermatology. 2016;28(4):438-443. ↗
  5. Hostynek JJ, Dreher F, Maibach HI. Human skin penetration of a copper tripeptide in vitro as a function of skin layer. Inflammation Research. 2011;60(1):79-86. ↗
  6. Pickart L. The human tri-peptide GHK and tissue remodeling. Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition. 2008;19(8):969-988. ↗
  7. Tucker M, Keely A, Park JY, Rosenfeld M, Wezeman J, Mangalindan R, Ratner D, Ladiges W. Intranasal GHK peptide enhances resilience to cognitive decline in aging mice. bioRxiv (preprint). 2023. ↗
  8. Tucker M, Liao GY, Park JY, Rosenfeld M, Wezeman J, Mangalindan R, Ratner D, Darvas M, Ladiges W. Behavioral and neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease are attenuated in 5xFAD mice treated with intranasal GHK peptide. bioRxiv (preprint). 2023. ↗
  9. Tosto R, Vecchio G, Bellia F. New Biotinylated GHK and Related Copper(II) Complex: Antioxidant and Antiglycant Properties In Vitro against Neurodegenerative Disorders. Molecules. 2023;28(18):6724. ↗
  10. Bobyntsev II, Chernysheva OI, Dolgintsev ME, Smakhtin MY, Belykh AE. Anxiolytic effects of Gly-His-Lys peptide and its analogs. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2015;158(6):726-728. ↗
  11. Endo T, Miyagi M, Ujiie A. Simultaneous determination of glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine and its metabolite, L-histidyl-L-lysine, in rat plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with post-column derivatization. Journal of Chromatography B: Biomedical Sciences and Applications. 1997;692(1):37-42. ↗
  12. Sever'yanova LA, Dolgintsev ME. Effects of Tripeptide Gly-His-Lys in Pain-Induced Aggressive-Defensive Behavior in Rats. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2017;164(2):140-143. ↗
  13. Arul V, Kartha R, Jayakumar R. Biotinylated GHK peptide incorporated collagenous matrix: A novel biomaterial for dermal wound healing in rats. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials. 2005;73(2):383-391. ↗
  14. Mortazavi SM, Mohammadi Vadoud SA, Moghimi HR. Topically applied GHK as an anti-wrinkle peptide: Advantages, problems and prospective. BioImpacts. 2025. ↗
  15. Min JH, Sarlus H, Harris RA. Glycyl-l-histidyl-l-lysine prevents copper- and zinc-induced protein aggregation and central nervous system cell death in vitro. Metallomics. 2024. ↗