In brief
GHK is found in human plasma, saliva and urine and declines with age, and the authors propose that it works as a copper complex. The review collects reports that GHK-Cu stimulates both synthesis and breakdown of collagen and glycosaminoglycans, modulates metalloproteinases and their inhibitors, increases decorin, restores replicative capacity to fibroblasts after radiation, and attracts immune and endothelial cells to a wound. Wound-healing effects are described in skin, hair follicles, gut, bone and in the foot pads of dogs, and systemic effects in rats, mice and pigs. In cosmetics it is reported to improve elasticity, density and firmness and to reduce fine lines, photodamage and hyperpigmentation. The authors also claim, from gene-expression data, that GHK alters the expression of thousands of human genes.
Study design
Review of GHK and GHK-Cu in skin repair, by the researcher who first isolated GHK and who has a commercial interest in GHK-based skin care.
What it does not show
A favourable review by an interested author, and the gene-expression claims come from database comparisons rather than experiments. The cosmetic findings are for topical products, not for a peptide in a vial.
A review summarises other papers and inherits every limit of the work it cites. It adds no new experiment, and where a review is written by the group that developed the compound, the selection of what to include is theirs.
Where this paper is cited
- GHK-Cu — Review of GHK as a modulator of gene expression, collagen synthesis and wound-healing pathways in skin.
- GHK-Cu + BPC-157 + TB-500 + KPV — Review of GHK as a modulator of gene expression, collagen synthesis and wound-healing pathways in skin.
Other papers cited for GHK-Cu and GHK-Cu + BPC-157 + TB-500 + KPV
- Animal study PepT1-mediated tripeptide KPV uptake reduces intestinal inflammation Dalmasso et al. (2008), Gastroenterology
- Cell-culture study Stimulation of collagen synthesis in fibroblast cultures by the tripeptide-copper complex glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu2+ Maquart et al. (1988), FEBS Lett
- Review Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data Pickart & Margolina (2018), Int J Mol Sci
- Review Brain-gut Axis and Pentadecapeptide BPC 157: Theoretical and Practical Implications Sikiric et al. (2016), Curr Neuropharmacol
- Review Thymosin β4: a multi-functional regenerative peptide. Basic properties and clinical applications Goldstein et al. (2012), Expert Opin Biol Ther
Further reading
- Research library: every paper cited on this site, by compound and by study type.
- Repair and recovery peptide comparison
- How to read a certificate of analysis
- Lyophilised peptide storage and stability
How this page was made: the citation was retrieved from PubMed by PMID and checked against the title on the product page; the summary was written from the paper's abstract and reports only what the abstract reports. Read the paper itself before relying on any figure here.