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Animal data onlyNot FDA approved

Cartalax

Also known as: AED · AED peptide · Ala-Glu-Asp · T-31 · Kartalax · Alanyl-glutamyl-aspartic acid · Cartilage bioregulator

Updated 20 sources

Cartalax is a synthetic three-amino-acid peptide (Ala-Glu-Asp, or AED) from Vladimir Khavinson's bioregulator program, sold as a cartilage and joint peptide. Guides run 2 to 5 mg a day by subQ injection, often ramped over 12 weeks, or 20 mg a day by mouth for 10 days. Every dose traces to guides and community practice; the indexed research is cell cultures plus one rat bone study. No human trial has tested a dose. Not FDA approved.
Calculate with CartalaxDosage chart

Quick facts

Half-life
  • Not established. No human or animal pharmacokinetic study has been published; guides expect a tripeptide to be broken down within minutes, but nobody has measured it.
Routes
  • Subcutaneous injection
  • Oral
Forms
  • Vial (powder)
  • Capsule
Reported dose ranges
  • 2 to 10 mg (subcutaneous injection)
  • 20 mg (oral)
  • 100 to 250 mcg (subcutaneous injection)
Vial sizes
  • 10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg
Chemistry
  • 333.29 g/mol · C12H19N3O8 · CAS 85806-95-7
FDA status
  • Not FDA approved
WADA
  • Not confirmed

What people use Cartalax for

  • Joint and cartilage support, especially osteoarthritis-type knee and hip pain
  • Recovery, the benefit app users log most often
  • Connective tissue and anti-aging rotations alongside other Khavinson bioregulators
  • Stacked with BPC-157 or alongside a GLP-1, per app co-logs

How it is thought to work. Cartalax is said to work like other Khavinson short peptides: entering cells and nudging gene expression. In aging human stem-cell cultures, AED at 200 ng/mL raised cartilage markers such as SOX9, aggrecan, type II collagen and COMP. In aging chondrocyte and kidney cell cultures it lowered aging and apoptosis markers such as p16, p21 and p53. No receptor or target is known, and no study shows how a dose reaches cartilage in a living body.

Cartalax dosing

5 protocols from studies, guides and community reports, grouped by goal. Tap a source badge to see where a number came from.

Injected4

12-week titration (subQ)

Amount
2 to 5 mg
How often
Once daily, stepping 2, 3, 4 then 5 mg
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Cycle
8 to 12 weeks, optionally up to 16
Titration (4 steps) and details

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Community range (subQ)

Amount
2 to 5 mg
How often
Once daily
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Timing and details

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High-dose 20-day course (subQ)

Amount
10 mg
How often
Once daily
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Cycle
20 days
Timing and details

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Low-dose outlier (subQ)

Amount
100 to 250 mcg
How often
Once daily
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Timing and details

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Oral, capsule1

Oral or sublingual course

Amount
20 mg
How often
Once daily
Route
Oral, capsule
Cycle
10 days
Rest
60 to 90 days off
Timing and details

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Doses shown are what sources report, labelled by origin. Not medical advice.

Full Cartalax dosage guideEvery titration step in syringe units, missed doses and how to mix.

Vial strengths and syringe units

Every Cartalax vial size with the water volumes sources use. Units are what to draw on a U-100 insulin syringe, worked out exactly.
Cartalax: concentration and U-100 syringe units for each vial size and water volume
WaterStrength2 mgdose, units5 mgdose, units10 mgdose, units
10 mg vial
2 mLCompetitor guide5 mg/mL400.4 mL1001 mL2002 mL2 draws
20 mg vial
2 mLCompetitor guide10 mg/mL200.2 mL500.5 mL1001 mL
3 mLCompetitor guide6.667 mg/mL300.3 mL750.75 mL1501.5 mL2 draws
40 mg vial
3 mLCompetitor guide13.333 mg/mL150.15 mL37.50.375 mL750.75 mL
Units are on a U-100 insulin syringe (100 units = 1 mL). U-50 and U-30 barrels read the same units.Water volumes from

Doses shown are what sources report, labelled by origin. Not medical advice.

Calculate with this peptideYour vial, your water, your dose: Cartalax in syringe units, with the math shown.

If you miss a dose

No validated rule exists. Guides advise against doubling the next dose to make up for a missed one.

Cartalax side effects

What trials and labels report, kept apart from what users and guides report. Frequencies are worded as each source states them.

Reported by users and guides5

From community reports and dosing guides. Not measured rates.

  • Redness or itch at the injection site

    Occasional and mild, per guides; no study has measured a rate

    How people manage it

    • Rotate sites (abdomen, thighs, upper arms)

  • Mild nausea or indigestion

    Reported for oral use in Russian practice; usually self-limited

    How people manage it

    • Usually passes; stop if it persists

  • Headache

    Occasional and mild, per one guide

    How people manage it

    • Track whether it lines up with dosing days

  • Mild rash

    Rare, per one guide; no anaphylaxis reported

    How people manage it

    • Stop and seek urgent care for facial or throat swelling, trouble breathing or widespread hives

  • Dizziness or lightheadedness

    Listed as rare on one guide

    How people manage it

    • Sit or lie down after the dose; stop if it repeats
All 5 Cartalax side effects and how people manage themEvery management tip, who should not use it, and side-effect questions.

Who should avoid it

  • Pregnancy or breastfeedingCondition

    No reproductive toxicology or human safety data exist.

  • Active bone or cartilage cancerCondition

    If the peptide really changes gene activity in cartilage cells, a guide argues that is no place to experiment with a bone or cartilage tumor present. A theoretical concern, not an observed one.

  • Vials with unclear identity, amount or sterilitySubstance

    Research vials are unregulated, and a wrong amount or contamination adds risk that has nothing to do with the peptide.

Storage

Powder (before mixing)

Fridge at 2 to 8 C, or -20 C for the long term, dry and out of light. One guide allows room temperature. A guide quotes 18 to 24 months of shelf life for the powder in the fridge.

Mixed vial

Temperature
2 to 8 °C
Use within
14 to 30 days

Fridge at 2 to 8 C, never frozen. Guides give 14 to 30 days, and one says no stability study backs any figure, so use the short end. Discard if cloudy or particles appear.

Mixed with: Bacteriostatic water

Mixing. With 3 mL in a 20 mg vial, 1 unit on a U-100 syringe holds about 66.7 mcg, so 2 mg is 30 units and 5 mg is 75 units. Using 2 mL makes the same doses a third smaller in volume. Guides keep injections at 1 mL or less per site.

Stacks people report

Combinations from guides and community posts, with the reason given.
  • BPC-157

    The usual joint-recovery pairing. App users co-log the two, but no study has tested the combination.

  • TB-500

    Listed by one guide as compatible in a BPC-157 and TB-500 recovery stack. No data on the combination.

  • Retatrutide

    Not a designed stack: app users on retatrutide are the largest group logging cartalax, likely for joints during weight loss.

  • GHK-Cu

    Co-logged by app users in connective tissue and skin rotations.

Related versions

  • Sigumir

    A polypeptide complex extracted from young animals' cartilage and bone, not one defined peptide. Cell studies dosed it at 2,000 ng/mL against 200 ng/mL for AED.

Compare Cartalax

Evidence and legal status

Evidence: animal data only

Published work is cell cultures from one connected Russian research network: AED raised cartilage markers in aging stem cells and lowered aging markers in chondrocyte, kidney and skin cell cultures. A rat osteoporosis study tested a T-31 substance on bone density. A 2023 review from the same group says AED was given by mouth to older people with osteoarthritis, but no trial report with numbers is indexed. ClinicalTrials.gov lists no cartalax trials.

FDA and WADA

Not FDA approved

No approval, no trial program and not on FDA's compounding lists.

Not FDA approved, and never evaluated. Cartalax does not appear on FDA's 503A bulk substance category lists (May 14, 2026) or its compounding safety-risk page, so US pharmacies have no route to compound it. It is sold as a research chemical or as imported oral capsules.

WADA does not name cartalax. Its S0 class bans any substance with no government approval for human use, which on its wording likely covers cartalax; that is our reading, and one guide agrees it arguably applies. The same guide says it is not registered as a drug outside Russia; we did not verify its status in Russia.

WADA: Not confirmed

Cartalax questions

What is cartalax?

A synthetic tripeptide, Ala-Glu-Asp (AED), from Vladimir Khavinson's short-peptide bioregulator program in St. Petersburg. It is also sold as T-31 or Kartalax and is marketed as a cartilage bioregulator. Molecular weight about 333 g/mol.

What is cartalax used for?

Mostly joints: knee and hip wear, cartilage support and recovery. Research covers cartilage-cell markers and cell aging in culture. No study shows it relieves joint pain or rebuilds cartilage in people.

What is the cartalax dosage?

There is no tested human dose. Guides and communities run 2 to 5 mg once a day by subQ injection, often ramping 2, 3, 4 then 5 mg over 12 weeks. The oral format runs 20 mg a day for 10 days. One guide lists far lower subQ doses of 100 to 250 mcg.

How many units is a cartalax dose from a 20 mg vial?

Mixed with 3 mL of bacteriostatic water, a 20 mg vial holds about 6.67 mg/mL, so each U-100 unit is about 66.7 mcg. That makes 2 mg 30 units, 3 mg 45 units, 4 mg 60 units and 5 mg 75 units. With 2 mL it is 10 mg/mL and 100 mcg per unit.

Is cartalax dosed at 10 mg a day for 20 days?

Some commercial and community sites say so, but one guide could not trace it to any study and thinks it was borrowed from oral product directions. It would use 200 mg, ten 20 mg vials.

Are cartalax capsules the same as the injection?

No. A capsule's weight can include fillers or a broader peptide complex, and pure AED's oral absorption is unproven. Do not convert a capsule label into an injection dose.

Are there human studies on cartalax?

No trial report is indexed. The published work is cell cultures of stem cells, chondrocytes, kidney cells and skin fibroblasts, plus a rat bone study. A 2023 review from the developers' group says it was given by mouth to older people with osteoarthritis, without trial details. ClinicalTrials.gov lists no cartalax trials.

What are the side effects of cartalax?

No study has measured them. Guides list mild injection-site redness or itch, occasional nausea or indigestion with oral use, mild headache and, rarely, a mild rash. No anaphylaxis has been reported. Missing reports partly reflect missing research.

What is the half-life of cartalax?

Unknown. No human or animal pharmacokinetic study exists. Once-daily dosing is community convention, not a finding.

Is cartalax a tripeptide or a tetrapeptide?

A tripeptide. PubChem and most guides list cartalax as Ala-Glu-Asp, 333.29 g/mol. One guide calls it a 446.5 Da tetrapeptide and gives two different sequences on the same page, which looks like an error. Check that a vial's certificate lists AED.

Cartalax vs BPC-157: what is the difference?

Cartalax is a 3-amino-acid Khavinson peptide studied in cartilage cell cultures. BPC-157 is a 15-amino-acid peptide with more animal healing studies. Neither has a proven human dose for joints, and nobody has studied the two together.

What is the difference between Sigumir and cartalax?

Sigumir is a peptide complex extracted from young animals' cartilage and bone. Cartalax is the single defined tripeptide AED. In stem-cell cultures the complex needed 2,000 ng/mL to match what AED did at 200 ng/mL.

Is cartalax FDA approved?

No. FDA has never evaluated it, and it is not on any 503A bulk category list, so US compounding pharmacies cannot make it. It is sold as a research chemical.

Is cartalax banned in sport?

WADA does not name it, but S0 bans any substance with no government approval for human use, and that likely covers cartalax. Tested athletes should assume it is prohibited.

What do users report on cartalax?

On one tracking app, 27 users rated it 57% favorable and 43% mixed, none unfavorable, and recovery was the benefit they logged most. Self-reports are not evidence it works.

Ask about Cartalax

Answers come from this site's pages only, with a link to each source.

Sources

20 sources, each checked by date. Record updated Oct 24, 2026. Numbers are restated in our own words and labelled by where they came from.

Reference work1

  1. Cartalax (Ala-Glu-Asp), CID 87815447PubChem · checked Oct 24, 2026

Vendor guide1

  1. Cartalax 20 mg product pagePure Lab Peptides · checked Oct 24, 2026

Competitor guide6

  1. Cartalax compound pagebodyhackguide.co · checked Oct 24, 2026
  2. Cartalax protocol guidepathtopeptides.com · checked Oct 24, 2026
  3. Cartalax peptide dosage and 20 mg protocolpeptidedosingprotocols.com · checked Oct 24, 2026

Community-reported1

  1. Cartalax community reportspeptiq.io, via a competitor guide · checked Oct 24, 2026