Research library
The research library
Every primary source behind a claim on this site, tier-graded for provenance and tagged for the strength of the evidence it carries.
- Sources indexed
- 221
- Peptides covered
- 44
- Tier 1 share
- 4%
- Matching filter
- 26
F·Filter
Reset allT1·Peer-primary literature
Randomized trials, peer-reviewed primary studies, and meta-analyses — the load-bearing layer of the corpus.
1 source
- 2025Reviewstrong
Retraction notice: 'The Procognitive and Synaptogenic Effects of Angiotensin IV-Derived Peptides Are Dependent on Activation of the Hepatocyte Growth Factor/c-Met System' and related Wright/Harding lab Dihexa publications
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (editorial) · Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
April 2025 retraction notices removed two of the key Wright/Harding lab mechanism papers for Dihexa — Benoist 2014 on HGF/c-Met dependence and Kawas 2012 on AngIV analog development — following research-integrity investigations. The McCoy 2013 foundational paper has been under an expression of concern since 2021. The mechanism case for Dihexa is now substantially weaker than the public peptide-vendor literature acknowledges.
T2·Peer-secondary literature
Peer-reviewed reviews and cohort/observational work — context, not bedrock.
21 sources
- 2026Reviewmoderate
FDA-Approved Drugs Containing D-Amino Acids: A Historical and Developmental Perspective
Tran L, Nguyen TD, Gad AG, +6 · Drug Development Research
More than twenty FDA-approved drugs incorporate at least one D-amino acid; bremelanotide (PT-141) — the cyclic heptapeptide melanocortin agonist approved for hypoactive sexual desire disorder — is one of them, and the chemistry that made approval possible is the same chemistry the gray-market melanocortin landscape now leans on.
- 2026Reviewmoderate
Safety and Efficacy of Approved and Unapproved Peptide Therapies for Musculoskeletal Injuries and Athletic Performance
Mendias CL, Awan TM · Sports Medicine
A 2026 Sports Medicine narrative review by the Performance Medicine Institute mapping the pharmacology, safety, and regulatory status of twelve sports-marketed peptides — AOD-9604, BPC-157, CJC-1295, FS-344, GHK-Cu, ipamorelin, MOTS-C, sermorelin, SS-31, tesamorelin, Tβ4, and TB-500 — and the first credible journal-tier framework for clinicians discussing the gray-market peptide channel with patients.
- 2026Reviewmoderate
Mitochondrial dysfunction-driven inflammation and β-Cell apoptosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus: mechanistic insights and therapeutic implications
Yadav S, Kumar G, Kumar S, +2 · Molecular Biology Reports
Mitochondria-targeted antioxidants MitoQ and SS-31 appear in this 2026 Molecular Biology Reports T2DM review as candidate β-cell-preserving therapeutics, alongside the explicit caveat that poor tissue specificity, poor bioavailability, and patient-to-patient variability remain the dominant translational barriers.
- 2026Reviewmoderate
Incretin-Based Anti-obesity Medications in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: The Evidence Map
Jensterle M, Janez A · Drugs
Drugs review by the Ljubljana endocrinology group mapping GLP-1RA and dual GIP/GLP-1 RA evidence in polycystic ovary syndrome — liraglutide has the densest PCOS-specific evidence with reproducible weight loss, visceral and hepatic fat reduction, and early signals on androgen and fertility benefits; semaglutide and tirzepatide data remain extrapolative.
- 2023Reviewstrong
Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations
Davis HE, McCorkell L, Vogel JM, +1 · Nature Reviews Microbiology
At least 10% of SARS-CoV-2 infections produce a long-COVID syndrome, with more than 200 catalogued symptoms across multiple organ systems and an estimated 65 million affected globally — the cornerstone synthesis that consolidated the post-acute pathophysiology literature into a single mechanism framework.
- 2022Reviewsuggestive
A central role for amyloid fibrin microclots in long COVID/PASC: origins and therapeutic implications
Kell DB, Laubscher GJ, Pretorius E · Biochemical Journal
The synthesis paper that frames amyloid fibrin microclots as a central mechanism of long COVID/PASC symptomatology — hypothesis-grade rather than validated mechanism, and the framework that underwrites the coagulation-focused therapeutic rationale that recurs in long-COVID communities.
- 2020Reviewmoderate
Thymosin alpha 1: A comprehensive review of the literature
Dominari A, Hathaway D III, Pandav K, +14 · World Journal of Virology
Approved in over 35 countries for hepatitis B and C, with extending use in sepsis, severe infections, vaccine adjunct, and emerging COVID-19 lymphocyte-preservation indications — the deepest cumulative clinical exposure of any peptide on this site.
- 2019Reviewstrong
Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women
Davis SR, Baber R, Panay N, +13 · Climacteric
The ten-society global consensus narrows the testosterone-for-women indication to a single use case — postmenopausal HSDD — and explicitly recommends against compounded testosterone products at supraphysiologic dosing, the framework that anchors contemporary off-label prescribing under specialist supervision.
- 2019Reviewstrong
Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis
Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Bahat G, Bauer J, +15 · Age and Ageing
EWGSOP2 demoted muscle mass from primary diagnostic criterion to confirmatory finding and put strength first — the conceptual reframing that explains why so many peptide trials report lean-mass gains that do not move the clinical endpoint.
- 2018Reviewmoderate
Novel Cytoprotective Mediator, Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157. Vascular Recruitment and Gastrointestinal Tract Healing
Sikiric P, Rucman R, Turkovic B, +18 · Current Pharmaceutical Design
The authors' central claim is that BPC-157's tissue protection routes through vascular recruitment — activating vessels to reach injury sites or open alternate circulation when the primary route is blocked.
- 2018Reviewmoderate
Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data
Pickart L, Margolina A · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Gene-expression analysis suggests GHK regulates dozens of pathways involved in tissue remodeling — a breadth unusual for a tripeptide and the basis for the renewed scientific interest in copper-peptide therapeutics beyond cosmetics.
- 2018Reviewmoderate
The International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health Process of Care for Management of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder in Women
Clayton AH, Goldstein I, Kim NN, +14 · Mayo Clinic Proceedings
The ISSWSH consensus algorithm for HSDD diagnosis and treatment — biopsychosocial assessment first, modifiable-factor management second, then central-acting pharmacotherapy with menopausal-status-stratified selection — produced via modified Delphi across 17 international panelists.
- 2018Reviewstrong
Testosterone Therapy in Men With Hypogonadism: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline
Bhasin S, Brito JP, Cunningham GR, +7 · Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
The 2018 Endocrine Society guideline anchors the modern diagnosis: hypogonadism requires both unequivocally and consistently low morning total testosterone and symptoms or signs consistent with deficiency — biochemistry alone or symptoms alone do not qualify.
- 2016Reviewmoderate
Definitions of Sexual Dysfunctions in Women and Men: A Consensus Statement From the Fourth International Consultation on Sexual Medicine 2015
McCabe MP, Sharlip ID, Atalla E, +6 · Journal of Sexual Medicine
The Fourth ICSM consensus reconciliation of DSM-5, ICD-10, and society-specific definitions for sexual dysfunctions — the framework reference for HSDD, FSIAD, female orgasmic disorder, and genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder against which contemporary trials are designed and contemporary pharmacology is labeled.
- 2015Reviewmoderate
Historical review of thymosin α 1 in infectious diseases
Camerini R, Garaci E · Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy
Camerini and Garaci — the field's senior authors — survey three decades of thymosin α-1 clinical data: hepatitis B and C, sepsis, aspergillosis in bone-marrow transplant recipients, vaccine adjunction in immunosenescent populations. The synthesis that frames the molecule's mechanism (TLR-9 / TLR-2 antagonism, IDO induction in dendritic cells, T-cell maturation) and its place in modern infectious-disease management.
- 2015Reviewstrong
Ghrelin
Müller TD, Nogueiras R, Andermann ML, +9 · Molecular Metabolism
The 2015 multi-author Molecular Metabolism review that consolidated the ghrelin field — fifty co-authors spanning the major laboratories that built ghrelin pharmacology across two decades, covering the receptor, signaling, gastrointestinal and central effects, sleep-wake regulation, reward-seeking, and the pharmacological landscape of the secretagogue class.
- 2014Reviewmoderate
The cardiovascular action of hexarelin
Mao Y, Tokudome T, Kishimoto I · Journal of Geriatric Cardiology
Synthesis of the hexarelin cardiac biology: acute LVEF improvement, ischemia-reperfusion protection in hypophysectomised rats, attenuation of cardiac fibrosis and LV hypertrophy, suppression of cardiomyocyte apoptosis — a body of work mechanistically anchored to CD36 binding that no other GHRP has accumulated.
- 2013Reviewmoderaten=925
Safety and Tolerability of the Hexadecapeptide AOD9604 in Humans
Stier H, Vos E, Kenley D · Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Integrated safety across six randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled AOD-9604 trials (~925 subjects, doses to 54 mg oral, durations to 24 weeks): no IGF-1 elevation, no insulin resistance, no impaired glucose tolerance, no anti-AOD-9604 antibodies, and no serious adverse events attributed to study drug. The published file that compounding-pharmacy AOD-9604 marketing in 2026 most commonly cites.
- 2010Reviewmoderate
The melanocortin system in control of inflammation
Catania A, Lonati C, Sordi A, +3 · TheScientificWorldJournal
The Milan group's synthesis of two decades of melanocortin anti-inflammatory work — alpha-MSH and KPV across endotoxin shock, hepatic ischemia-reperfusion, brain inflammation, intestinal inflammation, and rheumatoid arthritis — with explicit attention to how the C-terminal tripeptide preserves activity while shedding the pigmentary signal that makes the parent hormone clinically unworkable for chronic anti-inflammatory use.
- 2008Reviewmoderate
α-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone and related tripeptides: biochemistry, antiinflammatory and protective effects in vitro and in vivo, and future perspectives for the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases
Brzoska T, Luger TA, Maaser C, +2 · Endocrine Reviews
The canonical Endocrine Reviews synthesis of alpha-MSH and its C-terminal tripeptide KPV across fever, dermatitis, vasculitis, arthritis, colitis, uveitis, and brain inflammation — the field's high-water-mark review of the pharmacophore-dissection argument for KPV as a non-pigmenting anti-inflammatory.
- 2008Reviewmoderate
Investigation of the spectrum of physiological activities of the heptapeptide Semax, an ACTH(4-10) analogue
Levitskaya NG, Glazova NYu, Sebentsova EA, +5 · Neurochemical Journal
The Ashmarin / Moscow State University group's decade-on synthesis of the Semax research program — the thesis that the Pro-Gly-Pro stabilization separated melanocortin neurotropic activity from hormonal activity, enabling chronic dosing without engaging the systemic stress axis.
T3·Expert-primary work
Domain-expert primary sources outside the journal pipeline — lectures, podcasts, position papers.
4 sources
- 2026Reviewmoderate
Triple Hormone Receptor Agonism: The Role of Retatrutide in Addressing Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review
Pillai AA, Godin SL, Frishman WH, +1 · Cardiology in Review
A cardiology-group synthesis of retatrutide's Phase 2 data: 12 mg weekly drives 24.2% body-weight reduction at 48 weeks with 63% achieving ≥20% loss, 2.02% HbA1c reduction with 27% reaching normoglycemia, and 82.4% relative reduction in hepatic fat — alongside an 8.79 mm Hg systolic-pressure drop and a chronotropic safety signal worth monitoring.
- 2026Reviewsuggestive
Should Bremelanotide Be Considered for the Treatment of Sexual Arousal and Desire Disorders in Men?
Pfaus JG, Balon R · Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
James Pfaus — the bench scientist whose preclinical female-rat solicitation work anchored bremelanotide's FDA approval for HSDD in premenopausal women — argues with Robert Balon in JCP that the male-population evidence has matured enough to justify clinical consideration of bremelanotide for male hypoactive sexual desire disorder, despite the drug's current female-only label.
- 2013Reviewsuggestive
Mechanism of biological activity of short peptides: cell penetration and epigenetic regulation of gene expression
Khavinson VKh, Solov'ev AYu, Tarnovskaya SI, +1 · Biology Bulletin Reviews
The Khavinson program's 2013 mechanism review — its published argument for how a dipeptide or tetrapeptide could cross the cell membrane, cross the nuclear envelope, and reach a specific promoter motif on DNA. The cell-penetration half of the story the companion 2013 Bull Exp Biol Med modeling paper leaves on the table.
- 2006Reviewmoderate
Delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP): a still unresolved riddle
Kovalzon VM, Strekalova TV · Journal of Neurochemistry
Russian sleep researchers Kovalzon and Strekalova argue that after three decades of work, the 'DSIP is a sleep factor' hypothesis remains weakly documented — no receptor identified, no gene confirmed, no consistent acute sleep-induction effect in standardised paradigms. The most rigorous published skepticism toward the foundational DSIP claim.