What is Semax?
ACTH is a hormone made by the pituitary gland. Its main job is to tell the adrenal glands to release stress hormones. Back in the 1950s, researchers noticed that ACTH also seemed to affect the brain in ways separate from that hormone job. Over the next decades, chemists made short pieces of ACTH to try to keep the brain-related activity and drop the rest.
Semax came out of that work. A US foundation that reviews brain research describes it as a heptapeptide that keeps ACTH's nerve-supporting activity in animal tests while lacking its hormonal activity.
Glow Labs supplies Semax research vials, 10mg, for laboratory study only.
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Semax has two parts. The first four amino acids, Met-Glu-His-Phe, match positions 4 to 7 of ACTH. The last three, Pro-Gly-Pro, were added on. Papers often call Semax an ACTH(4-10) analogue, because it was modelled on that longer stretch of ACTH. More precise papers call it an ACTH(4-7) analogue, since only four of its amino acids come from ACTH.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Sequence | Met-Glu-His-Phe-Pro-Gly-Pro (M-E-H-F-P-G-P) |
| Length | 7 amino acids |
| Parent | ACTH, positions 4 to 7 |
| Added tail | Pro-Gly-Pro |
| Formula | C37H51N9O10S |
| Molecular weight | 813.9 g/mol |
| PubChem record | CID 9811102 |
Why add Pro-Gly-Pro? Short ACTH pieces break down within minutes. The foundation report says the tail, added in the 1970s, stretched the activity to around 20 to 24 hours in animal models.
Sources: PubChem, ACTH (4-7), Pro-Gly-Pro (Semax), CID 9811102, National Library of Medicine. Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Cognitive Vitality report: Semax, PDF file dated 15 June 2020, Read 25 October 2026. Medvedeva EV et al, Mol Genet Genomics, 2017. Eremin KO et al, Semax, an ACTH(4-10) analogue with nootropic properties, activates dopaminergic and serotoninergic brain systems in rodents, Neurochem Res, 2005.
Where it came from
Semax was developed at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Most of the research on it, including the clinical work, has been done in Russia and published in Russian journals. That is the main reason Western reviews describe its evidence as hard to judge. It is not that the studies do not exist. Many are simply not available in full in English.
Medicine status
According to the foundation report, Semax is used as a medicine in Russia. We found no approval for it outside Russia in the sources we read. The TGA pages we read do not mention Semax, and we found no Australian registration for it. Our Semax is a lab reagent, not a product for people.
For how Glow Labs sells Semax, see our research use only notice.
What was studied
Animal studies
Much of the lab record uses rats and mice.
- A 2005 study measured serotonin and dopamine markers in rodent brains after Semax.
- A 2008 study grew rat brain cells in dishes and counted how many of one nerve cell type survived.
- A 2014 study in rats with an induced stroke looked at which genes changed activity across the whole genome.
- A 2017 rat follow-up from the same group focused on immune response genes after the same induced stroke.
Human studies so far
The foundation report counts two small pilot studies in healthy people and two studies in stroke patients. One healthy-volunteer study in 2018 used brain scans at rest in 24 adults. A 2020 study scanned 52 healthy adults who received Semax, Selank or placebo. The 1997 stroke study is in Russian, with an English abstract only. A separate 2017 study in 110 stroke patients measured BDNF, a growth factor for nerve cells, in their blood. Only its abstract is available, and the full article is in Russian.
Sources: Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Cognitive Vitality report: Semax, PDF file dated 15 June 2020, Read 25 October 2026. Eremin KO et al, Semax, an ACTH(4-10) analogue with nootropic properties, activates dopaminergic and serotoninergic brain systems in rodents, Neurochem Res, 2005. Grivennikov IA et al, Effects of behaviorally active ACTH (4-10) analogue Semax on rat basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, Restor Neurol Neurosci, 2008. Medvedeva EV et al, BMC Genomics, 2014. Gusev EI et al, Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova, 1997 (Russian). Lebedeva IS et al, Effects of Semax on the default mode network of the brain, Bull Exp Biol Med, 2018. Panikratova YR et al, Functional connectomic approach to studying Selank and Semax effects, Dokl Biol Sci, 2020.
Evidence origins
Every top page says the human evidence is thin. This table shows why.
| Study | Country | Language | People | Full English text? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroke study, 1997 | Russia | Russian | 30 treated, 80 comparison | No, abstract only |
| Healthy volunteers, attention and memory | Russia | Russian | not reported in English | No, cited second-hand |
| Default mode network scans, 2018 | Russia | English translation | 24 | Yes |
| Stroke and BDNF study, 2017 | Russia | Russian | 110 | No, abstract only |
| Connectivity scans with Selank, 2020 | Russia | English translation | 52 | Yes |
Five human studies, all from one country, three of them not readable in full in English. None were large, multi-country trials. That is the evidence picture in one view.
Sources: Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Cognitive Vitality report: Semax, PDF file dated 15 June 2020, Read 25 October 2026. Gusev EI et al, Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova, 1997 (Russian). Lebedeva IS et al, Effects of Semax on the default mode network of the brain, Bull Exp Biol Med, 2018. Panikratova YR et al, Functional connectomic approach to studying Selank and Semax effects, Dokl Biol Sci, 2020.
How it may work
Nobody has settled how Semax acts. Researchers have put forward a few ideas based on animal work:
- It may raise levels of BDNF, a growth factor that supports nerve cells, in parts of the rat brain.
- It may affect brain chemical messengers. The 2005 study saw a rise in a serotonin marker but no change in dopamine on its own.
- It may change gene activity linked to immune and blood vessel responses after an induced stroke in rats.
Each of these comes from rodents. None has been confirmed in people.
Sources: Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Cognitive Vitality report: Semax, PDF file dated 15 June 2020, Read 25 October 2026. Eremin KO et al, Semax, an ACTH(4-10) analogue with nootropic properties, activates dopaminergic and serotoninergic brain systems in rodents, Neurochem Res, 2005. Medvedeva EV et al, BMC Genomics, 2014.
Semax and Selank
Semax is often listed beside Selank, another 7 amino acid peptide from the same Russian research tradition. The two share the same Pro-Gly-Pro tail but come from different parent molecules. Our Selank vs Semax guide lines up their sequences letter by letter. Both peptides sit in our cognitive research peptides area, next to DSIP.
Storing Semax vials
Semax arrives as freeze-dried powder. Keep the vial sealed, cold, dry and out of light until it is needed in the lab. Once mixed with liquid, peptides break down faster. See our guide on storing research peptides.
FAQ
Is Semax a peptide?
Yes. It is a chain of 7 amino acids, made by chemical synthesis.
Is Semax the same as ACTH?
No. Only four of its seven amino acids come from ACTH. The foundation report describes it as lacking ACTH's hormonal activity.
Where is Semax a medicine?
In Russia, according to the foundation report we read. We found no approval elsewhere in our sources.
Is Semax legal in Australia?
Semax has no Australian registration that we could find, and the TGA pages we read do not name it. Glow Labs supplies it for laboratory research only, as our research use only notice explains.
What has research found Semax does in the body?
Only early ideas so far, all from rats and mice. Studies point to more BDNF, a growth factor for nerve cells, a rise in one serotonin marker, and shifts in immune and blood vessel gene activity after an induced stroke. None of this has been confirmed in people.
Is Semax good for ADHD?
No source we read answers that. The human studies we read looked at stroke patients and at brain scans in healthy adults. None of them tested people with ADHD.
How should Semax be stored?
As dry powder, in a sealed vial, kept cold and dark until use.
Sources
- PubChem, ACTH (4-7), Pro-Gly-Pro (Semax), CID 9811102, National Library of Medicine.
- Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, Cognitive Vitality report: Semax, PDF file dated 15 June 2020, Read 25 October 2026.
- Medvedeva EV et al, Semax, an analog of ACTH(4-7), regulates expression of immune response genes during ischemic brain injury in rats, Mol Genet Genomics, 2017.
- Eremin KO et al, Semax, an ACTH(4-10) analogue with nootropic properties, activates dopaminergic and serotoninergic brain systems in rodents, Neurochem Res, 2005.
- Grivennikov IA et al, Effects of behaviorally active ACTH (4-10) analogue Semax on rat basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, Restor Neurol Neurosci, 2008.
- Medvedeva EV et al, The peptide semax affects the expression of genes related to the immune and vascular systems in rat brain focal ischemia: genome-wide transcriptional analysis, BMC Genomics, 2014.
- Gusev EI et al, Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova, 1997 (Russian).
- Lebedeva IS et al, Effects of Semax on the default mode network of the brain, Bull Exp Biol Med, 2018.
- Panikratova YR et al, Functional connectomic approach to studying Selank and Semax effects, Dokl Biol Sci, 2020.
