Cartalax

Mechanism of action

Proposed by its developers to act on chondrocyte gene expression. What has been measured is in other cell types: in aging stem-cell, kidney and skin-fibroblast cultures AED changed the expression of aging and proliferation markers (IGF1, p16, p21, p53, SIRT6, Ki-67, MMP-9). No cartilage study was found.

Primary uses

• Investigational support in osteoarthritis and joint aging (Russian literature)
• Research into connective-tissue aging

Typical dosing

Educational information, not medical advice. The doses on this page come from approved labels, published studies and, where no study exists, amounts reported by users. None is a recommendation for you. An unapproved compound has no established safe or effective human dose, and products sold for “research use only” are not made or tested for people. Talk to a doctor before acting on anything on this site, including before you start, stop or change any medicine or dose. Full medical disclaimer.

Regulatory status

Not FDA-approved. Marketed in Russia as a bioregulator supplement.

Status as of this entry's last review, October 4, 2026. Approvals, compounding rules and sport rules change; the regulatory tracker is checked more often.

What we checked

No paper indexed on PubMed has Cartalax in its title, so this section records what can be checked instead: the molecule's identity, its regulatory status on the date below, the studies that test its sequence, and every search we ran.

Identity, computed

NLM's MeSH vocabulary has a supplementary concept record (C572340) that lists Cartalax, Ala-Glu-Asp and "T-31 peptide" as names for one synthetic peptide; that record is how the sequence was confirmed. An earlier version of this entry gave the formula C11H17N3O8 and a mass of 319.27, which belong to Glu-Asp-Gly (chonluten), not to Ala-Glu-Asp. Both were corrected on October 4, 2026.

Regulatory status, read October 4, 2026

Drugs@FDA: 0 records for “cartalax”. EMA medicines list: 0 records for “cartalax”. Run for semaglutide, the same queries return 6 and 5 records (and the registry search 84 trials), so a zero here is an absence, not a broken search. Not named on the WADA 2026 and 2027 Prohibited Lists. As a substance with no current approval for human therapeutic use, it falls under section S0 (non-approved substances), which is prohibited at all times; the lists were read on September 27, 2026.

What the maker or sellers claim

Claim, from its developers and Russian sellers: Cartalax is a cartilage bioregulator that supports chondrocytes and joint tissue. None of the studies found below tested it in cartilage, chondrocytes or joints.

About the family, not this compound

The Khavinson peptides are di-, tri- and tetrapeptides developed at the Saint Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, most first isolated from animal tissue extracts and later made synthetically. The group proposes that they reach the cell nucleus and change gene expression in the tissue they are named for. Nearly all of the indexed work comes from that group and its collaborators.

A 2023 modelling study from the same group docked 26 of these short peptides, including AED, EDL, EDG and KEDG, into the amino-acid and peptide transporters LAT1, LAT2 and PEPT1, and proposed those transporters as their route into cells (Khavinson et al., 2023). It is a computer model of binding, not a measurement in cells, and it says nothing about any one product's effects.

What the studies of Ala-Glu-Asp show

MeSH ties six PubMed records to Cartalax, through its sequence or its code name T-31. All six are cell or tissue culture work. In aging human mesenchymal stem cells, AED raised IGF1 expression 3.5- to 5.6-fold and increased NFκB expression at nanomolar concentrations (Ashapkin et al., 2020). In kidney cell cultures from young and old animals, AED and EDL increased cell division, lowered the aging markers p16, p21 and p53 and raised SIRT6 (Khavinson et al., 2014); a second kidney study found T-31 (AED) and T-35 (EDL) stimulated division and reduced cell death, though less than a polypeptide complex extracted from calf kidney (Chalisova et al., 2015).

In aging skin fibroblasts, AED was one of four peptides that lowered MMP-9 and raised Ki-67 and CD98hc, and one of two that suppressed caspase-dependent apoptosis (Lin'kova et al., 2016). In aged thymocyte cultures, T-31 was tested beside two other peptides and only one of those others, AB-9, had a combined protective effect (Lin'kova et al., 2011). In periodontal-ligament stem cells, AED was part of a four-peptide mixture that raised neuronal markers; the effect was attributed to the mixture and to KED, not to AED alone (Caputi et al., 2019). All six papers are in the References.

What we looked for and did not find

No human trial, no animal study, no pharmacokinetic data, and no study in cartilage, chondrocytes or joint tissue. No registry record on ClinicalTrials.gov. No dose from a controlled study. The sequence search returns over a hundred records, almost all fragments of larger proteins; only the ones above test the free tripeptide.

References

1. [pubmed] Khavinson VKh, et al. "[Peptide bioregulators: the new class of geroprotectors. Communication 1. Results of experimental studies]." Adv Gerontol, 2012;25(4):696-708. PMID: 23734519.
2. [pubmed] Lin'kova NS, et al. "Peptidergic regulation of thymocyte differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis during aging of the thymus." Bull Exp Biol Med, 2011;151(2):239-42. PMID: 22238759.
3. [pubmed] Khavinson VKh, et al. "[Tripeptides slow down aging process in renal cell culture]." Adv Gerontol, 2014;27(4):651-6. PMID: 25946838.
4. [pubmed] Chalisova NI, et al. "Peptide Regulation of Cells Renewal Processes in Kidney Tissue Cultures from Young and Old Animals." Bull Exp Biol Med, 2015;159(1):124-7. PMID: 26033601.
5. [pubmed] Ashapkin V, et al. "Gene expression in human mesenchymal stem cell aging cultures: modulation by short peptides." Mol Biol Rep, 2020;47(6):4323-4329. PMID: 32399807.
6. [pubmed] Caputi S, et al. "Effect of short peptides on neuronal differentiation of stem cells." Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol, 2019;33:2058738419828613. PMID: 30791821.
7. [pubmed] Lin'kova NS, et al. "Peptide Regulation of Skin Fibroblast Functions during Their Aging In Vitro." Bull Exp Biol Med, 2016;161(1):175-8. PMID: 27259496.
8. [pubmed] Khavinson VK, et al. "Feasibility of Transport of 26 Biologically Active Ultrashort Peptides via LAT and PEPT Family Transporters." Biomolecules, 2023;13(3). PMID: 36979488.

Related peptides

Guides & tools