F tier · safety concern
Cartalax is a tripeptide studied only in cell and tissue culture, with no animal outcome study, no human data, and no registered trial; the widespread claim that it is the AEDG tetrapeptide sold as Epitalon is factually wrong, which means much of the marketing evidence attributed to it belongs to a different molecule.
Cartalax
Cartalax is the tripeptide Ala-Glu-Asp (AED), developed by Khavinson's St Petersburg group and marketed as a cartilage 'bioregulator'. Published work is confined to organotypic and cell-culture systems — kidney tissue explants, skin fibroblasts, mesenchymal and dental stem cells — with no in vivo cartilage model and no human study. It is frequently and incorrectly listed as AEDG; AEDG is a different, four-residue peptide marketed as Epitalon/Epithalon.
// we supply this one
available as a research reagent
≥ 98% HPLC · lyophilised powder · batch certificate published. Grade F above is our own and is not adjusted because we stock it.
the explanation
Cartalax is a three-amino-acid peptide sold for joints and cartilage. It has only ever been tested on cells in dishes, never in an animal joint and never in a person. It is often described as the same thing as Epitalon, but it is not — Epitalon has four amino acids and Cartalax has three, and they are separate compounds in the chemistry databases.
regulatory status
No medicinal approval anywhere; research reagent
Cartalax has no marketing authorisation as a medicine in the UK, EU, or US, and no MHRA, EMA, or FDA record exists for it. A ClinicalTrials.gov query returns no registered study of Cartalax or AED. In Russia it reaches consumers via the 'Cytogens' consumer peptide range associated with Khavinson's institute rather than as a registered medicine, and no Russian medicines-register entry could be verified; the group's own 2014 review of clinical results for its bioregulators does not include Cartalax. UK supply is as a research reagent only, not for human consumption.
how it works · proposed mechanism
As with the rest of the family, the proposed mechanism is nuclear entry and sequence-selective interaction with DNA leading to tissue-specific gene regulation, with cartilage nominated as the target tissue. In practice the published readouts are generic cell-renewal and gene-expression measures in whatever culture system was available, not cartilage-specific ones. The organ assignment is therefore an assertion, not an experimental result.
Cell-renewal modulation in aged explants
In organotypic culture of kidney tissue from young and old animals, AED and related tripeptides were reported to shift the balance of proliferation and apoptosis toward renewal. This supports a generic anti-senescence effect in culture, not a cartilage-specific one.
Effects on senescent fibroblasts
AED is reported to modify functional parameters of skin fibroblasts during in vitro aging. Dermal fibroblasts are not chondrocytes, and no extracellular-matrix or proteoglycan endpoint relevant to cartilage was measured.
Gene expression in aging stem cell cultures
In human mesenchymal stem cell aging cultures, short peptides including AED were reported to modulate expression of genes linked to differentiation and senescence. The changes are described at transcript level with no downstream tissue outcome.
Distinct from AEDG in the same experiment
In a 2019 stem-cell differentiation study, AED, KED, KE and AEDG were tested as four separate peptides with different reported effects. That design is direct evidence that Cartalax (AED) and Epitalon (AEDG) are not the same molecule.
what’s reported
evidence shape
6 sourcesThe composition of the cited literature by study type. This describes the shape of the evidence, not its quality — and it does not by itself set the grade.
⚠ the catch
Cartalax is not Epitalon, and the two are routinely conflated in retail listings. PubChem's compound record for Cartalax (CID 87815447) is Ala-Glu-Asp — a three-residue peptide of formula C12H19N3O8 — whereas Epitalon/Epithalon is the four-residue Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG); a 2019 paper from the originating group tested AED and AEDG side by side as separate agents. Any evidence page that transfers Epitalon's telomerase and pineal claims to Cartalax is describing a different molecule. On its own evidence, Cartalax has never been tested in an animal joint, let alone a human: every study is cell or tissue culture, from the Khavinson network, and none used a cartilage or chondrocyte model at all. The cartilage indication is a product-range label with no experimental basis we could verify.
key published findings
- Cartalax is the tripeptide Ala-Glu-Asp (AED), confirmed by PubChem CID 87815447 — synonyms include 'Cartalax', 'H-Ala-Glu-Asp-OH' and 'T-31 peptide'; formula C12H19N3O8, 333.29 g/mol.
- Cartalax is therefore NOT the same compound as Epitalon/Epithalon, which is the tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly (AEDG). The two differ by a glycine residue and are separate database entries.
- A 2019 study (International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology) tested AED, KED, KE and AEDG as four distinct peptides in the same experiment, confirming AED and AEDG are treated as different molecules by the originating group itself.
- ClinicalTrials.gov contains no registered study of Cartalax or AED (verified by registry query).
- No published human study was located, and no cartilage or chondrocyte model appears in the retrieved literature — the studies used kidney explants, skin fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem cells and periodontal ligament stem cells.
- The 2019 collaboration with an Italian university group still lists Vladimir Khavinson as an author, so it does not constitute independent replication.
- No CAS registry number for AED appears in the PubChem synonym set, so CAS is reported as null.
limitations of the evidence
- Entirely in vitro evidence base; no animal outcome study and no human data located.
- No cartilage-relevant experimental model in the retrieved literature despite the cartilage marketing claim.
- Apparent international collaborations (for example the 2019 Chieti/St Petersburg stem-cell paper) still include Khavinson as an author and are not independent replication.
- Primary literature concentrated in Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine and Advances in Gerontology, both Russian translated journals with limited external scrutiny.
- Widespread AED/AEDG conflation in retail and secondary sources means much of the apparent evidence for Cartalax actually pertains to Epitalon.
- Sources are shared with the other Khavinson bioregulators in this index because these compounds are described in one common body of literature.
documented safety signals
- No documented safety signals; equally, no published human safety data, no accessible toxicology, and no adverse-event surveillance.
- Absence of reported harm reflects absence of monitored human exposure.
- Mislabelling risk is material: because Cartalax and Epitalon are widely conflated, a vial sold as one may contain the other, and no regulator-audited standard governs the supply chain.
identity
| full name | Cartalax (Ala-Glu-Asp, AED) |
| category | Healing & Repair |
| modality | peptide |
| formula | C12H19N3O8 |
| molar mass | 333.29 g/mol |
| sequence | Ala-Glu-Asp (AED) |
laboratory handling
| storage | Lyophilised powder is stored desiccated at -20 °C and protected from light. Once reconstituted, laboratory practice is refrigeration at 2-8 °C for short-term use, or aliquoting and freezing to avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Handling information only; this compound has no approved human use. |
| solubility | Short hydrophilic peptide, readily soluble in sterile or bacteriostatic water and in dilute aqueous buffer. Lot-specific solubility is stated on the certificate of analysis. |
Handling information describes laboratory practice for a research reagent. It is not a preparation guide for use in humans.
the receipts
6 citedPubChem, US National Library of Medicine · 2026 · official
ClinicalTrials.gov, US National Library of Medicine · 2026 · official
International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology · 2019 · preclinical
Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine (Russian translated journal) · 2015 · preclinical
Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine (Russian translated journal) · 2016 · preclinical
Molecular Biology Reports · 2020 · preclinical
others in Healing & Repair