The Short Answer on Cartalax
Cartalax is a synthetic tripeptide, Ala-Glu-Asp, belonging to the peptide bioregulator family and associated with connective and cartilage tissue.
Here is the part most pages about this compound leave out: a PubMed search returns no published study whose title names Cartalax. The material circulating about it is drawn from work on the bioregulator class in general, not from experiments on this specific tripeptide. This page states that plainly, because a researcher choosing a compound needs to know where the evidence stops.
Research use only. Cartalax is supplied for laboratory research. It is not for human or veterinary use, holds no marketing authorisation, and no therapeutic claim is made for it.
What Is Actually Established
Three things can be stated without extrapolation.
- Its structure. Ala-Glu-Asp, a tripeptide. This is a matter of chemistry, verified by the certificate of analysis supplied with each batch.
- Its family. It belongs to the set of short peptides associated with the research programme at the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, which proposes gene-expression regulation as the shared mechanism for the class (Khavinson et al., Molecules 2021, PMID 34834147).
- Its tissue association. Within that framework it is described as connective-tissue associated. This is a classification within the family's own scheme, not an experimental finding about the compound.
What Is Not Established
Everything else. There is no published study naming Cartalax that establishes a biological effect, a mechanism specific to this sequence, a safety profile, or any amount for any context or species.
Class-level papers — the systematic review above, the gene-expression work (PMID 27909961), the cell-differentiation work (PMID 31808038) — describe the family. Citing them as though they were findings about Cartalax would be a category error, and it is a common one in material written about this compound.
That distinction matters for research design. If an experiment needs a compound with an established effect to compare against, Cartalax is not that compound. If the experiment is about characterising an under-studied member of the family, then the absence of prior work is the reason to choose it.
Structure and Laboratory Handling
- Sequence. Ala-Glu-Asp (tripeptide).
- Form. Lyophilised powder, ≥98% purity, third-party certificate of analysis per batch.
- Storage. Sealed vial at −20 °C, protected from light.
- Reconstitution. Bacteriostatic water down the vial wall, never onto the powder cake. Do not shake.
- After reconstitution. Refrigerate at 2–8 °C.
- Concentration. Vial mass divided by diluent volume — see the reconstitution calculator.
Better-Characterised Alternatives in the Family
If compound-specific published work matters for the design, these members of the same family have studies naming them directly: Vilon (Lys-Glu, thymic and immune), Pancragen (Lys-Glu-Asp-Trp, pancreatic), Epithalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, pineal and telomere-associated) and Thymalin.
The full family, grouped by physiological system with the evidence position for each, is on our peptide bioregulator overview.