Important limitations
- Individual claims and source links have not yet completed editorial verification.
- Evidence level, applicable study model, formulation, route and population remain unassigned.
Cartalax
Cartalax is the synthetic tripeptide Ala-Glu-Asp (AED, laboratory code T-31) from Vladimir Khavinson's bioregulator program at the St.
Dosing & scaling, explained
The moderated mass amounts below are retained for comparison. Near-duplicates, mix-dependent volumes and device markings are excluded. This is educational source context, not a protocol or recommendation.
Mass amounts available for comparison
- Lower range1 mgDose
Recorded example with no verified study backing; shown for amount literacy only.
- Mid range5 mgDose
Recorded example with no verified study backing; shown for amount literacy only.
Only mcg or mg amounts are retained. The calculator derives mL, syringe units or pen clicks from the current vial strength, water volume and device.
No independently verified schedule
Evidence context
No clinical amount or schedule is inferred from this material. Source verification is pending, and every displayed amount remains educational context rather than guidance.
Storage, handling and interpretation
Product identity
Verify the exact compound, formulation and amount against the product label or certificate before calculation.
Storage & handling
Follow the product label, certificate and validated laboratory SOP; no universal storage assumption is applied here.
Prepared solutions
Label concentration and preparation date, use sterile technique where applicable, and follow a validated stability protocol.
Reported protocols for Cartalax
What published studies and recent community write-ups report about amounts, timing and course length. 2 preclinical and 3 community-reported rows, each linked to its source. These are descriptions of what others report, not instructions, and nothing here is medical advice.
| Context | Dose | Frequency | Route | Course | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preclinical2 rows | |||||
| Chondrogenic differentiation of aging human mesenchymal stem cellsHuman mesenchymal stem cell cultures undergoing replicative aging | 200 ng/mL in the culture medium (the whole cartilage polypeptide complex needed 2,000 ng/mL) | Added to the culture medium | In vitro | Length of the culture experiment, not stated in the abstractNot applicable | Advances in Gerontology (PubMed)2023 |
| At 200 ng/mL the AED peptide raised gene expression and protein synthesis of SOX9, aggrecan, type II collagen and COMP in aging stem cell cultures, an effect the cartilage polypeptide complex it was compared with only reached at a tenfold higher concentration. This is a Russian-language paper from the originating institute; it involves cells in a dish, not animals or people, and the authors describe osteoarthritis models as future work. | |||||
| Gene expression in aging bone marrow stem cell culturesHuman embryonic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (FetMSC line) aged by passaging or by stationary culture | Nanomolar concentrations (the abstract reports the 10^-9 mol/L range without an exact figure) | Added to the culture medium | In vitro | Duration of the aging culture experimentNot applicable | Molecular Biology Reports (PubMed)2020 |
| AED, KED and KE each raised IGF1 expression 3.5 to 5.6-fold and stimulated NFkB expression in both aging models, while the FOXO1 and TNKS2 effects belonged to the other two peptides rather than to AED. The work was done at Moscow State University with Khavinson as co-author and, like every AED study, measured transcripts in culture rather than any outcome in a living organism. | |||||
| Community-reported3 rows | |||||
| Khavinson-style injectable course | 200-400 mcg | Once daily, morning, fasted | Subcutaneous | 10-20 daysRepeated 2-3 times per year; described as 2 weeks on, about 12 weeks off | Community resource2026 |
| A 2026 biohacking guide gives 200-400 mcg subcutaneously for 10-20 days as the standard pattern, with oral capsules (2 a day for 30 days) and sublingual drops as the Russian retail alternatives, and says the schedule is the shared Khavinson convention rather than anything derived for this peptide. The same page wrongly describes Cartalax as Lys-Glu-Asp (KED); PubChem and every indexed paper give Ala-Glu-Asp. | |||||
| Oral capsule course | 200-400 mcg (1-2 capsules) | Once daily | Oral capsules | 10-30 daysCourses repeated 2-3 times per year | Community resource2026 |
| An evidence-review site lists the retail capsule protocol of 1-2 capsules a day for 10-30 days, repeated two or three times a year, and states that it is the generic Khavinson supplement framework rather than the product of any dose-finding study. It adds that no pharmacokinetic data show whether an intact tripeptide is absorbed from a capsule at all. | |||||
| Low-dose community injection pattern | 100-200 mcg | Once daily during a course | Subcutaneous, or oral capsules | Not fixed; short courses as in the wider bioregulator familyNot specified | Community resource2026 |
| A 2026 evidence ledger records that self-experimenters typically use 100-200 mcg subcutaneously or capsules, and calls these figures arbitrary numbers circulating in forums with no pharmacokinetic basis and no outcome data. It places Cartalax at the bottom of its bone and joint cluster because there are zero human studies of any design. | |||||
How a course is commonly described
- Days 1-10Community-reported
Community guides describe starting at the full 200-400 mcg subcutaneous dose (or 1-2 capsules) on day one with no titration, taken in the morning. Nothing measurable is expected in this window; the guides themselves describe the course as a short pulse rather than a build-up.
- Days 10-30Community-reported
Injectable courses are described as ending at 10-20 days and capsule courses at 30 days. No source describes a taper, and no marker is suggested for judging whether the course did anything.
- Weeks 2-24 (theoretical)Community-reported
A 2026 compound index lays out a four-phase timeline (weeks 1-2, weeks 2-4, months 1-3 and months 3-6) and labels every phase theoretical, because it is extrapolated from the bioregulator framework and cell culture work rather than from any human observation.
- BreakCommunity-reported
The off period is about 12 weeks after a two-week course, giving 2-3 courses a year. Guides explain the gap with the Khavinson idea that a short course resets gene expression for months, a claim that has not been tested for this peptide in any organism.
- Preclinical comparisonPreclinical
The only quantified exposures in the literature are culture concentrations: 200 ng/mL in the 2023 chondrogenic stem cell study and nanomolar levels in the 2020 gene expression study. These were applied to cells for the length of an experiment, so there is no animal or human course to compare the community schedule against.
- No published study has administered AED to a living animal or a human, so every dose, route and course length above is convention. The culture concentrations in the papers cannot be converted into an injected or oral amount without pharmacokinetic data, and none exist.
- There is no measured half-life for Cartalax in any species. Guides that mention rapid clearance are reasoning from the general behaviour of unmodified tripeptides, not from a measurement of this one.
- Cartalax is not approved anywhere and no clinical trial is registered. The published record is positive in four culture systems from one research group and negative in a fifth (aging thymocytes, 2011); none of it involves cartilage in a living joint.
Sources for this section (11)
- The influence of peptides on the chondrogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells during replicative aging
- Gene expression in human mesenchymal stem cell aging cultures: modulation by short peptides
- Peptide Regulation of Skin Fibroblast Functions during Their Aging In Vitro
- Peptide Regulation of Cells Renewal Processes in Kidney Tissue Cultures from Young and Old Animals
- Tripeptides slow down aging process in renal cell culture (Russian)
- Peptidergic regulation of thymocyte differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis during aging of the thymus
- Effect of short peptides on neuronal differentiation of stem cells
Plus 4 community resources (dosing guides, forum threads and vendor write-ups), reported above but not linked.
Overview
Cartalax is the synthetic tripeptide Ala-Glu-Asp (AED, laboratory code T-31) from Vladimir Khavinson's bioregulator program at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, sold as capsules and as lyophilized powder marketed for cartilage, joint and bone support. The indexed literature is cell culture and tissue explant work from Khavinson's group and its collaborators: aging kidney cells and rat kidney explants, skin fibroblasts, human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (including a 2023 chondrogenic differentiation study), periodontal ligament stem cells, and one 2011 thymocyte study in which AED showed no effect. No published study has given AED to a living animal or a human at a stated dose, there are no pharmacokinetic data and no registered trial, and it is not approved by any regulator; the oral and injectable courses that circulate come from the general Khavinson bioregulator convention and from vendor pages rather than from any dosed study.
What researchers are exploring
These themes organize the educational information currently available. Individual claims remain under source review and are not treatment claims.
- 1
Cartalax and Skin
Dermatological findings and anti-aging insights
- 2
Anti-inflammatory Properties
Implications for cartilage and joint health
- 3
Cartalax and Kidney Health
Renal cell renewal and senescence markers
- 4
Geroprotective Properties
Influence on gene expression tied to aging
- 5
Summary
Therapeutic overview
What is known and what still needs verification
Available context is organized without assigning unsupported study models or evidence grades.
- Not graded
Cartalax and Skin
Dermatological findings and anti-aging insights
- Not graded
Anti-inflammatory Properties
Implications for cartilage and joint health
Amounts recorded for Cartalax
These amount records are independent from vial strength, reconstitution volume and measuring device. A recorded source is not the same as study backing, and these values are not recommendations.
- 1Dose · lower endpointSign in for schedule, duration and source context.1 mg
- 2Dose · upper endpointSign in for schedule, duration and source context.5 mg
Chemistry identifiers
Sequence, synonyms and registry identifiers as recorded in PubChem, the National Library of Medicine's open chemistry database. Formula, mass and CAS number are summarized at the top of the page.
Sequence
Ala-Glu-Asp
Also listed as
Ala-Glu-Asp, AED (code used in the papers), T-31 peptide, H-Ala-Glu-Asp-OH, L-Alanyl-L-glutamyl-L-aspartic acid, CHEBI:158137, SCHEMBL5324601, RefChem:915345
InChIKey
KXEVYGKATAMXJJ-ACZMJKKPSA-N
IUPAC name
(2S)-2-[[(2S)-2-[[(2S)-2-aminopropanoyl]amino]-4-carboxybutanoyl]amino]butanedioic acid
Limitations and unknowns
Sources
1 link carried over from the earlier page, awaiting verification.