Everything below concerns melanotan-2. We keep the language plain, cite what the science says, and separate well-supported claims from open questions.
Updated 2026-06-20. Numbers and descriptions here follow the published literature rather than marketing material.
Receptor-binding studies classify melanotan II as a non-selective melanocortin agonist. It interacts with MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R, with reported affinities in the low nanomolar range and no strong subtype preference. Activation of MC1R on dermal melanocytes shifts pigment synthesis toward eumelanin, the dark polymer deposited in melanosomes and transferred to keratinocytes. Because the same peptide engages MC4R in the hypothalamus, it also appears in animal work on food intake and erectile response, which is why it is discussed in both pigment and metabolic research. Which receptor populations dominate after systemic exposure in humans is not fully established.
Published pharmacokinetic information is limited and comes mainly from small studies rather than registrational trials. Plasma half-life is usually described as short, on the order of tens of minutes, followed by rapid tissue distribution and clearance of the intact peptide. Metabolites and low concentrations of parent compound have been reported in urine, a detail relevant to anti-doping and forensic testing. Whether repeated exposure changes receptor sensitivity or clearance over time remains an open question. Values differ noticeably between analytical assays, so published numbers should be read as approximate rather than definitive.
Regulatory treatment varies by country. In the United States, melanotan-2 is not approved for any indication, and products marketed for human use fall outside the approved drug framework. Some other jurisdictions have placed it under prescription controls or listed it as a prohibited or restricted substance. Online listings frequently describe the material as a research chemical, a category that does not carry the same manufacturing and labelling requirements as approved medicines.
Solid peptide material is generally stable when kept cold and dry. Common practice is storage at -20 degrees Celsius or lower, with desiccant and protection from light. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles and exposure to moisture are associated with degradation, aggregation, or loss of material. Once dissolved, stability depends on solvent, concentration, and temperature, and solutions are usually treated as short-lived unless stability data support longer periods. Handling notes typically emphasise minimising time at ambient temperature.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C50H69N15O9 | Cyclic heptapeptide, C-terminally amidated |
| Approximate molecular mass | 1024 Da | Monoisotopic mass of the free peptide |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typically supplied as a lyophilised solid |
| Solubility class | Soluble in water and polar solvents | Also dissolves in neutral aqueous buffer |
| Common synonyms | Melanotan II, MT-II, MT-2 | Described as a melanocortin agonist in early literature |
The peptide was developed during the 1980s by researchers investigating melanocortin signalling and skin pigmentation pathways. Early work focused on analogues of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone that would resist enzymatic breakdown more effectively than the parent molecule. Melanotan-2 emerged from that programme as a shortened, cyclised variant. Reports describing its synthesis and receptor activity later appeared in the scientific literature. Commercial availability grew through unregulated channels rather than through pharmaceutical approval.
Structurally, Melanotan-2 retains the core recognition motif of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone while adding a lactam bridge that links two side chains and constrains the molecule into a ring. This modification lowers susceptibility to enzymatic degradation. The compound acts as an agonist at melanocortin receptors, particularly subtypes associated with melanin production. Because the same receptor family influences several physiological processes, researchers note that its activity is not confined to pigmentation alone. Receptor selectivity continues to be examined in published studies.
Melanotan-2 appears on the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list within the peptide hormone class, and several national regulators treat it as an unapproved prescription substance. Some countries restrict importation or sale for personal use. Because the compound is widely traded as a research chemical, the practical legal picture differs between jurisdictions and shifts over time. Human safety data covering long periods are limited, and whether repeated pigmentation changes carry any lasting risk to melanocytes remains an open question.
Freeze-dried melanotan-2 is normally kept as a desiccated powder at minus twenty degrees Celsius or lower, shielded from light and moisture. Peptides of this size degrade through hydrolysis, oxidation and deamidation, and each pathway accelerates as temperature and water activity rise. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles promote aggregation and loss of material, so aliquoting a stock solution before freezing is standard laboratory practice. Once dissolved, the solution is markedly less stable than the powder. In laboratory work, solutions are generally refrigerated and used within days rather than kept for months.
Research interest has centred on photoprotection and pigmentation, with a smaller body of work on appetite and sexual function. Published human data remain limited to small, frequently uncontrolled studies, and the compound has never received marketing approval from a national medicines regulator. Most laboratory work treats it as a pharmacological tool for probing melanocortin signalling in cell culture or animal models. Whether pigmentation changes observed in people translate into measurable protection against ultraviolet-induced DNA damage remains an open question.
Melanotan-2 is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide designed as an analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, the naturally occurring peptide involved in pigmentation signalling. Its sequence is conventionally written as Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-NH2, with a lactam bridge joining the aspartate side chain to the lysine side chain. The empirical formula is C50H69N15O9 and the monoisotopic mass lies near 1023.5 daltons. N-terminal acetylation and the D-configured phenylalanine both increase resistance to enzymatic breakdown compared with the parent hormone.
==== Flashbacks ==== Flashbacks (spontaneous recurrences of a previous psilocybin experience) can occur long after psilocybin use. Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is characterized by a continual presence of visual disturbances similar to those generated by psychedelic substances. Neither flashbacks nor HPPD are commonly associated with psilocybin usage, and correlations between HPPD and psychedelics are further obscured by polydrug use and other variables.
== Community metabolism == The common ancestor of the now existing cellular lineages (eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea) may have been a community of organisms that readily exchanged components and genes. It would have contained:
== Pharmacokinetics == After inhalation of doses up to 800 μg (twice the maximum recommended dose) systemic blood levels of pirbuterol are below the limit of assay sensitivity (2–5 ng/ml). A mean of 51% of the dose is recovered in urine as pirbuterol plus its sulfate conjugate following administration by aerosol. Pirbuterol is not metabolized by catechol-O-methyltransferase. The plasma half-life measured after oral administration is about two hours.
== Protein structure databases == A protein structure database is a database that is modeled around the various experimentally determined protein structures. The aim of most protein structure databases is to organize and annotate the protein structures, providing the biological community access to the experimental data in a useful way. Data included in protein structure databases often includes 3D coordinates as well as experimental information, such as unit cell dimensions and angles for x-ray crystallography determined structures. Though most instances, in this case either proteins or a specific structure determinations of a protein, also contain sequence information and some databases even provide means for performing sequence based queries, the primary attribute of a structure database is structural information, whereas sequence databases focus on sequence information, and contain no structural information for the majority of entries. Protein structure databases are critical for many efforts in computational biology such as structure based drug design, both in developing the computational methods used and in providing a large experimental dataset used by some methods to provide insights about the function of a protein.
== Limitations == SELDI is often criticized for its reproducibility due to differences in the mass spectra obtained when using different batches of chip surfaces. While the method has been successful with analyzing low molecular weight proteins, consistent results have not been obtained when analyzing high molecular weight proteins. There also exists a potential for sample bias, as nonspecific absorption matrices favor the binding of analytes with higher abundances in the sample at the expense of less abundant analytes. While SELDI-TOF-MS has detection limits in the femtomolar range, the baseline signal in the spectra varies and noise due to the matrix is maximal below 2000 Da, with Ciphergen Biosystems suggesting to ignore spectral peaks below 2000 Da.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
These data show that the standard enthalpy changes are indeed approximately equal for the two reactions and that the main reason why the chelate complex is so much more stable is that the standard entropy term is much less unfavourable, indeed, it is favourable in this instance. In general it is difficult to account precisely for thermodynamic values in terms of changes in solution at the molecular level, but it is clear that the chelate effect is predominantly an effect of entropy. Other explanations, including that of Schwarzenbach, are discussed in Greenwood and Earnshaw.
The history of the mole is intertwined with that of units of molecular mass, and the Avogadro constant. The first table of standard atomic weight was published by John Dalton (1766–1844) in 1805, based on a system in which the relative atomic mass of hydrogen was defined as 1. These relative atomic masses were based on the stoichiometric proportions of chemical reaction and compounds, a fact that greatly aided their acceptance; it was not necessary for a chemist to subscribe to atomic theory (which was not universally accepted at the time) to make practical use of the tables. This would lead to some confusion between atomic masses (promoted by proponents of atomic theory) and equivalent weights (promoted by its opponents and which sometimes differed from relative atomic masses by an integer factor), which would last throughout much of the nineteenth century. Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) was instrumental in the determination of relative atomic masses to ever-increasing accuracy. He was also the first chemist to use oxygen as the standard to which other masses were referred. Oxygen is a useful standard, as, unlike hydrogen, it forms compounds with most other elements, especially metals. However, he chose to fix the atomic mass of oxygen as 100, which did not catch on. Charles Frédéric Gerhardt (1816–56), Henri Victor Regnault (1810–78) and Stanislao Cannizzaro (1826–1910) expanded on Berzelius' works, resolving many of the problems of unknown stoichiometry of compounds, and the use of atomic masses attracted a large consensus by the time of the Karlsruhe Congress (1860).
=== New owner === On 23 February 2023, Giant's operator Dairy Farm announced that it was exiting the grocery retail market in Malaysia, citing increasing competition. Dairy Farm's grocery business in Malaysia was sold to Macrovalue Sdn Bhd led by Andrew Lim Tatt Keong, a local businessman and entrepreneur. Dairy Farm, however, would still remain the operator of the Cold Storage and Giant franchise in Singapore until 2025, where it will be sold to Macrovalue Pte Ltd in March 2025. Following the acquisition, Macrovalue announced that Giant Hypermarket in both Singapore and Malaysia will be rebranded as Giant Mall as the parent company attempts to attract more foot traffic and cut down losses.
The culture is then stirred and aerated to incorporate oxygen into the culture which the yeast uses in the synthesis of needed survival factors. The temperature of the starter culture is then slowly reduced, often by the graduated addition of must to get within 5–10 °C (41–50 °F) of the must that the culture will be added to. This is done to avoid the sudden cold shock that the yeast cells may experience if the starter culture was added directly to the must itself which can kill up to 60% of the culture. Additionally, surviving cells exposed to cold shock tend to see an increase in hydrogen sulfide production.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
reporter In genetic engineering, a gene which when properly expressed encodes a gene product that is easily detected or visualized with biochemical assays (e.g. green fluorescent protein, β-galactosidase, chloramphenicol O-acetyltransferase, etc.), allowing researchers to use its expression in order to study the functions and properties of associated regulatory sequences. Reporters are commonly cloned into plasmid vectors in proximity to putative promoters, enhancers, or response elements, which are then mutated in order to precisely identify the specific recognition motifs within these sequences that are necessary for expression. In the broadest sense, reporters may also include things like molecular tags, fluorescent labels, and hybridization probes which render their conjugated molecules conspicuous or able to be purified; or they may be used similarly to selectable markers, to distinguish cells that express a given product from those that do not, so that researchers can easily identify mutants of interest or verify the success of an experimental treatment or laboratory procedure.
Laron syndrome (LS), also known as growth hormone insensitivity or growth hormone receptor deficiency (GHRD), is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a lack of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1; somatomedin-C) production in response to growth hormone (GH; hGH; somatotropin). It is usually caused by inherited growth hormone receptor (GHR) mutations. The syndrome is named after the scientist Zvi Laron who first discovered the syndrome in 1966. Affected individuals classically present with short stature between −4 and −10 standard deviations below median height, obesity, craniofacial abnormalities, micropenis, low blood sugar, and low serum IGF-1 despite elevated basal serum GH. LS is a very rare condition with a total of 250 known individuals worldwide. The genetic origins of these individuals have been traced back to Mediterranean, South Asian, and Semitic ancestors, with the latter group comprising the majority of cases. Molecular genetic testing for growth hormone receptor gene mutations confirms the diagnosis of LS, but clinical evaluation may include laboratory analysis of basal GH, IGF-1 and IGFBP levels, GH stimulation testing, and/or GH trial therapy. People with LS are unresponsive to growth hormone therapy; the disease is instead treated mainly with recombinant IGF-1, Mecasermin. Evidence has suggested that people with Laron syndrome have a reduced risk of developing cancer and diabetes mellitus type II, with a significantly reduced incidence and delayed age of onset of these diseases compared to their unaffected relatives.
As Russia regained stability, discontent grew within the serf and peasant populations. Under Alexis Romanov, Mikhail's son, the Code of 1649 divided the Russian population into distinct and fixed hereditary categories. The Code increased tax revenue for the central government and put an end to nomadism, to stabilize the social order by fixing people on the same land and in the same occupation as their families. Peasants were tied to the land, and townsmen were forced to take on their fathers' occupations. The increased tax burden fell mainly on the peasants, further widening the gap between the poor and wealthy. Human and material resources became limited as the government organized more military expeditions, putting even greater strain on the peasants. War with Poland and Sweden in 1662 led to a fiscal crisis, and rioting across the country. Taxes, harsh conditions, and the gap between social classes drove peasants and serfs to flee. Many went to the Cossacks, knowing that the Cossacks would accept refugees and free them. The Cossacks experienced difficulties under Tsar Alexis as more refugees arrived daily. The Tsar gave the Cossacks a subsidy of food, money, and military supplies in return for acting as border defense. These subsidies fluctuated often; a source of conflict between the Cossacks and the government. The war with Poland diverted necessary food and military shipments to the Cossacks as fugitive peasants swelled the population of the Cossack host.
== Erythrocytes == Several deficiencies in the level of activity (not function) of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase have been observed to be associated with resistance to the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum among individuals of Mediterranean and African descent. The basis for this resistance may be a weakening of the red cell membrane (the erythrocyte is the host cell for the parasite) such that it cannot sustain the parasitic life cycle long enough for productive growth.
== Research == In April 2014, the American Academy of Neurology found evidence supporting the effectiveness of the cannabis extracts in treating certain symptoms of multiple sclerosis and pain, but there was insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness for treating several other neurological diseases. A 2015 review confirmed that medical marijuana was effective for treating spasticity and chronic pain, but caused numerous short-lasting adverse events, such as dizziness.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
No. It is a synthetic analogue carrying four amino acid changes, a lactam ring and an amidated C-terminus. The natural hormone is a linear thirteen-amino-acid peptide processed from proopiomelanocortin.
Afamelanotide is the linear analogue [Nle4-D-Phe7]-alpha-MSH, sometimes called melanotan I, while melanotan II is cyclic and carries three further substitutions. The two are distinct molecules and are not interchangeable in analytical testing.
Binding to the four melanocortin receptor subtypes is well documented in vitro. The relative contribution of each subtype to whole-body effects in humans is far less certain.
Laboratory confirmation typically combines retention time matching on a chromatographic system with mass measurement. A reference standard of known identity is needed for a meaningful comparison. Sequence-level techniques can add further confirmation.