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Limited human dataNot FDA approved

Pinealon

Also known as: EDR peptide · Glu-Asp-Arg · H-Glu-Asp-Arg-OH · L-Glutamyl-L-aspartyl-L-arginine · Пинеалон · Peptide complex AC-5

Updated 35 sources

A three amino acid Khavinson bioregulator (Glu-Asp-Arg) pitched for brain aging, memory and stress. Russia sells it as a dietary supplement; elsewhere it comes as research vials. The only human dose we found in PubMed is 100 mcg by mouth twice a day, yet injection guides run anywhere from 100 mcg to 10 mg a day. The evidence is mostly cells and rats.
Calculate with PinealonDosage chart

Quick facts

Half-life
  • Not measured in humans. One guide estimates about 2 to 5 minutes in plasma; others just say minutes.
Routes
  • Oral
  • Subcutaneous injection
  • Nasal
  • Other route
Forms
  • Vial (powder)
  • Capsule
  • Oral solution
  • Nasal spray
Reported dose ranges
  • 100 mcg (oral)
  • 1 to 10 mg (subcutaneous injection)
  • 20 mg (oral)
  • 100 to 500 mcg (subcutaneous injection)
Vial sizes
  • 10 mg, 20 mg
Chemistry
  • 418.4 g/mol · C15H26N6O8 · CAS 175175-23-2
FDA status
  • Not FDA approved
WADA
  • Not confirmed

What people use Pinealon for

  • Memory, focus and mental fatigue
  • Brain aging and neuroprotection
  • Sleep, usually stacked with epitalon
  • Stress resilience and recovery after a nootropic cycle

How it is thought to work. One of the smallest peptides in use at about 418 g/mol. In cell work it limits reactive oxygen species and necrotic cell death and shifts ERK 1/2 signalling. The developers propose it enters the nucleus and binds DNA promoters, raising genes such as serotonin's synthesis enzyme. This is mostly from one group.

Pinealon dosing

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

Oral, capsule2

Oral capsules, Russian worker study

Amount
100 mcg
How often
One capsule twice a day
Route
Oral, capsule
Cycle
2 weeks
Timing and details

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Oral capsule (guide)

Amount
20 mg
How often
One capsule a day, usually in the morning
Route
Oral, capsule
Cycle
10 to 20 days
Rest
2 to 3 months apart, 2 to 3 cycles a year
Timing and details

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Injected6

Subcutaneous step-up (guide)

Amount
1 to 2 mg
How often
Once daily, morning or early afternoon
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Cycle
10 to 20 days, sometimes 28
Rest
2 to 3 months between cycles, 2 to 3 cycles a year
Titration (3 steps) and details

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Low-dose subcutaneous, weekdays (guide)

Amount
200 to 500 mcg
How often
Once daily, 5 days a week
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Cycle
30 days per course
Rest
Repeat every 4 to 6 months
Timing and details

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Short low-dose course (guide)

Amount
100 to 300 mcg
How often
Once daily
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Cycle
5 to 10 days, 1 to 2 times a year
Timing and details

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Higher subcutaneous range (guide)

Amount
2 to 10 mg
How often
Once daily, morning preferred; some split into morning and midday
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Cycle
10 to 20 day pulses, 2 to 4 cycles a year
Timing and details

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Daily start, then every other day (community via guide)

Amount
200 mcg
How often
Once daily in weeks 1 to 2, then every other day
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Titration (1 steps) and details

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High-dose short course (community via guide)

Amount
5 to 10 mg
How often
Once daily, sometimes split into two doses
Route
SubQ, vial (powder)
Cycle
10 to 20 days, sometimes repeated a few times a year
Timing and details

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Nasal, nasal spray1

Nasal, per nostril (guide)

Amount
150 to 800 mcg
How often
Once daily, into each nostril
Route
Nasal, nasal spray
Timing and details

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Other route1

Alongside epitalon (community)

Amount
1 to 2.5 mg
How often
Once daily or nightly
Route
Other route
Cycle
10 to 20 days
Timing and details

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

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

Vial strengths and syringe units

Every Pinealon vial size with the water volumes sources use. Units are what to draw on a U-100 insulin syringe, worked out exactly.
Pinealon: concentration and U-100 syringe units for each vial size and water volume
WaterStrength200 mcgdose, units2 mgdose, units10 mgdose, units
10 mg vial
1 mLCompetitor guide10 mg/mL20.02 mL200.2 mL1001 mL
2 mLCompetitor guide5 mg/mL40.04 mL400.4 mL2002 mL2 draws
20 mg vial
2 mLCompetitor guide10 mg/mL20.02 mL200.2 mL1001 mL
3 mLCompetitor guide6.667 mg/mL30.03 mL300.3 mL1501.5 mL2 draws
4 mLCompetitor guide5 mg/mL40.04 mL400.4 mL2002 mL2 draws
10 mLCompetitor guide2 mg/mL100.1 mL1001 mL5005 mL5 draws
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: Pinealon in syringe units, with the math shown.

Pinealon side effects

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

Reported in studies and labels1

From clinical trials and regulatory documents.

  • Lab changes in a small study

    One Russian study of pinealon and vesugen in 32 adults aged 41 to 83 saw a pro-oxidant effect and lower CD34+ blood stem cell markers

Reported by users and guides5

From community reports and dosing guides. Not measured rates.

  • Injection-site redness, itch or irritation

    The most commonly reported issue across guides and app logs

    How people manage it

    • Rotate sites

  • Mild headache

    Early in a cycle, usually the first few days

  • Vivid dreams or changed sleep

    During the first week

    How people manage it

    • Dose earlier in the day

  • Insomnia

    A single Reddit report of lasting insomnia after pinealon with N-acetyl epitalon

  • Stomach upset

    Mild, with oral capsules; called rare by one guide

    How people manage it

    • Take with food, as the Russian label directs
All 6 Pinealon side effects and how people manage themEvery management tip, who should not use it, and side-effect questions.

Who should avoid it

  • Pregnancy and breastfeedingCondition

    Listed as contraindications on the Russian supplement registration; guides say avoid.

  • Active or recent cancerCondition

    A guide flags pinealon's effects on apoptosis and caspase-3 signalling.

  • Seizure disordersCondition

    A guide urges caution with any compound acting on the brain.

  • Prescription brain or psychiatric medicationsSubstance

    Interactions are not mapped. One guide lists melatonin, sedatives, immunosuppressants and serotonin-affecting antidepressants as theoretical interactions.

  • Under 14Condition

    The Russian label is for adults from 14; a guide says there is no safety data in children and teens.

Storage

Powder (before mixing)

Temperature
-20 °C

Freezer at -20 C for long-term storage, kept dry and dark. The fridge is fine for short transit. One guide says below 25 C away from light.

Mixed vial

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

Fridge at 2 to 8 C. Guides give 14, 28 or 30 days; 14 days fits all of them.

As supplied

Temperature
2 to 25 °C

Russian capsules: dry and dark at 2 to 25 C. Shelf life is listed as 3 years in the registry entry and 5 years in another reference.

As supplied

Use within
10 days

Russian sublingual liquid: once opened, keep in the fridge and use within 10 days.

Mixed with: Bacteriostatic water

Mixing. Pick the volume that makes your dose easy to draw. Low doses (100 to 300 mcg) read better on a dilute vial; 5 to 10 mg doses need a strong one. Swirl gently, do not shake.

Stacks people report

Combinations from guides and community posts, with the reason given.
  • Epitalon

    The most common partner, usually for sleep: for example 1 mg pinealon with 0.5 mg epitalon daily, or 2.5 mg with 1 mg nightly for 20 nights. Guides also pair them for pineal and brain support.

  • Vesugen

    The pairing used in several Russian human studies of biological age and work stress, where the two together did better than either alone.

  • Semax

    Some users run pinealon after a Semax and Selank cycle; one guide notes community pairings with Semax and epitalon without controlled data.

Compare Pinealon

Evidence and legal status

Evidence: limited human data

Human data are a handful of Russian studies whose abstracts report no placebo arm: a two-week capsule course in train crew workers, 32 adults aged 41 to 83 with organic brain syndrome, and work-stress studies where it was given with vesugen. The rest is cell and rat work, mostly from the developers' group. ClinicalTrials.gov lists no trials.

FDA and WADA

Not FDA approved

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

Not FDA approved. Pinealon is not on FDA's 503A nominations list (May 14, 2026) or its compounding safety-risk page, and no trials are registered.

Russia registers it as a dietary supplement, not a medicine (RU.77.99.88.003.R.004071.11.22, November 2022), as tablets and capsules for adults. The maker's shop also sells a sublingual liquid and labels the capsules for adults from 14. WADA does not name it; whether its S0 class for unapproved substances applies is not verified.

WADA: Not confirmed

Pinealon questions

What is pinealon?

A synthetic three amino acid peptide, Glu-Asp-Arg (EDR), from Vladimir Khavinson's bioregulator research in St. Petersburg. It is studied as a brain-protecting peptide in cells and rats.

What dose has been used in people?

The only human dose we found stated in PubMed is oral: one 100 mcg capsule twice a day for two weeks, in a Russian study of train crew workers.

What dose do injection guides use?

They disagree widely: 100 to 300 mcg, 200 to 500 mcg, 1 to 2 mg, or 2 to 10 mg a day. None comes from a dose-finding trial.

What do people actually log?

In one app's self-reports, the most common dose per injection was 0.2 to 0.4 mg, with reports from 0.1 mg to over 2 mg.

How much water for a 20 mg vial?

3 mL is the common choice and gives about 6.67 mg/mL, where 1 unit is about 66.7 mcg. Guides also use 2 mL (10 mg/mL) or 10 mL (2 mg/mL).

How much water for a 10 mg vial?

1 mL gives 10 mg/mL, so 5 mg is 50 units. 2 mL gives 5 mg/mL.

How long is a cycle?

Guides run 5 to 30 days. The Russian supplement label says 10 to 30 days, repeated after 4 to 6 months; the only human course in PubMed lasted 2 weeks.

Is pinealon good for sleep?

We found no study of its effect on sleep. Sleep use comes from the name and from Reddit posts pairing it with epitalon. In a rat pineal culture it did not raise the pineal cell markers that epitalon raised.

Morning or evening?

Most guides say morning or early afternoon. One suggests the evening for sleep and admits no study compared the two.

Can you take it orally?

Yes. The Russian product is an oral supplement, and the published human work used capsules. One guide calls oral dosing a poor choice because the gut breaks peptides down; human bioavailability has not been measured.

Is it a drug in Russia?

No. It is registered there as a dietary supplement (BAD), as capsules and tablets; the maker also sells a sublingual liquid. The registry lists peptide complex AC-5 but no peptide amount.

Is pinealon FDA approved?

No. It is not on FDA's 503A nominations list or the compounding safety-risk page, and ClinicalTrials.gov lists no trials.

What side effects are reported?

Injection-site redness is the most common report, then mild headache early on, vivid dreams or changed sleep in the first week, and mild stomach upset with capsules. One Reddit user reported lasting insomnia after pinealon with epitalon.

How long does mixed pinealon last?

In the fridge at 2 to 8 C, guides give 14 to 30 days. Use 14 days to stay inside all of them.

How is it different from epitalon?

Different peptide: three amino acids aimed at the brain versus epitalon's four aimed at the pineal gland and telomeres. People often take them together.

Is the evidence strong?

No. It is mostly cell and rat work from one research group, plus a few Russian studies in people whose abstracts report no placebo arm.

Ask about Pinealon

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

Sources

35 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 work3

  1. Pinealon (supplement entry)RLS · checked Oct 24, 2026
  2. Pinealon (Glu-Asp-Arg), CID 10273502PubChem · checked Oct 24, 2026
  3. PinealonWikipedia · checked Oct 24, 2026

Vendor guide1

  1. Pinealon, brain peptide (maker's label text)peptid.ru · checked Oct 24, 2026

Competitor guide8

  1. Pinealon quick startpeptidedosingprotocols.com · checked Oct 24, 2026
  2. Pinealon dosing guidethepeptidecatalog.com · checked Oct 24, 2026
  3. Pinealon dosing protocol: 20 mg vialmypeptidematch.com · checked Oct 24, 2026

Community-reported4

  1. Epitalon and pinealon, 2-week Garmin datar/Biohackers · checked Oct 23, 2026
  2. Comment: 1 mg epitalon with 2.5 mg pinealon for 20 nightsr/Peptides · checked Oct 23, 2026
  3. Epitalon and pinealon induced insomniar/Peptides · checked Oct 23, 2026