Cartalax

What it is

Cartalax, also called the AED peptide or T-31, is a short chain of three amino acids, joined in the order alanine, glutamate, then aspartate. Researchers first identified this sequence in kidney tissue, and the same three-amino-acid pattern also appears within the structure of type XI collagen, a protein that helps form cartilage; that overlap is a large reason the peptide has drawn study in connection with joints and connective tissue.

It was developed as part of the same bioregulator peptide research program that produced Cardiogen, led by a Russian research group studying short peptides across different tissue types. The published laboratory work looks mainly at how the peptide affects stem cells and connective-tissue-related cells growing in a dish, rather than at cartilage or joints in a living animal or person [1].

How it is studied

Published Cartalax research uses cell-culture experiments, exposing various types of stem cells to the peptide at very low concentrations for periods of about a week, then measuring cell growth and, in some studies, whether the cells begin turning into nerve-like cells [1]. This work has not extended to whole-animal studies of cartilage or joint tissue, and no human clinical trial has been published.

What studies report

• In cultured stem cells, Cartalax and related short peptides from the same research program increased how quickly the cells multiplied and encouraged some of them to begin developing nerve-cell characteristics. [1]

What is not known

No published study has tested Cartalax in a living animal's joints or cartilage, so its specific relevance to joint health, which is the main research interest behind it, is not established by direct evidence; the available work is in unrelated stem-cell cultures. Reports describing effects specifically on cartilage or bone-related aging come from the same small research group and secondary summaries of their work, and have not been independently confirmed with a citable, accessible primary study.

Reported adverse findings

• The published stem-cell culture work did not report toxic effects on the cells at the concentrations tested, though this is laboratory cell data rather than an animal or human safety study. [1]

Regulatory status

No national medicines regulator, including the FDA and Health Canada, has approved Cartalax for use in people. It is manufactured and marketed in Russia as a dietary capsule product, a regulatory category with lighter evidence requirements than a prescription medicine, and that Russian marketing status does not extend to other countries.