GHK-Cu

GHK-Cu is a naturally occurring copper-binding tripeptide studied in cell culture and animal models for its interactions with extracellular matrix synthesis.

Yes. 11 third party certificates for GHK-Cu are published on this site, covering endotoxin, purity and sterility. Each one is the report as the testing laboratory issued it, not a retyped summary, and the most recent lot is 50mg · 4/1/2026. Match the batch on your vial to the batch on the report.

49557-75-7. It is printed in the specification table on this page so it can be checked against your own records before ordering.

Refrigerate (2-8 deg C) Lyophilized powder is the stable form; once reconstituted, a solution is far more fragile and should be aliquoted rather than repeatedly frozen and thawed.

>=99% by HPLC. The released figure for any given lot is on that lot's certificate rather than taken from this page, because purity is a property of a batch and not of a product line.

No. This is sold for laboratory research use only. It is not a drug, not a supplement, and not approved by the FDA for human or veterinary use. We do not provide dosing, administration, or protocol guidance, by phone, by email, or through the assistant on this site.

GHK is the free tripeptide glycyl-histidyl-lysine, molecular weight approximately 340.4 g/mol, CAS 49557-75-7. GHK-Cu is that peptide complexed with copper(II), molecular weight approximately 403.9 g/mol, CAS 89030-95-5. Nearly all of the biological literature concerns the copper complex, and the blue color is the visible signature of the bound metal.

Because copper is a required cofactor for a specific set of enzymes, most relevantly lysyl oxidase, which forms the covalent crosslinks in collagen and elastin. Free copper is redox active and is not permitted to circulate unbound, so a carrier that can deliver it without releasing it into solution occupies a functionally distinct role from either free copper or a chelator.

There are small human studies on topical cosmetic formulations containing the copper peptide, typically short, small, and frequently industry-sponsored. There is no controlled human clinical trial of injectable or systemic GHK-Cu, no published human pharmacokinetic data for that route, and no long-term human safety data.

Any buffer with significant chelating capacity. EDTA-containing buffers will strip copper from the complex, and concentrated phosphate buffers can interfere with copper coordination. Where the intact complex is the experimental subject, buffer chelating capacity should be checked before use, since a stripped complex is a different material than the one intended.

Copper alone and the free peptide alone, at matched concentrations. Copper is a redox-active metal and introducing it into any system introduces copper load as a variable. Without those controls it is not possible to distinguish a result attributable to the complex from a result attributable to copper or to the peptide independently.

The blue color arises from the d-d electronic transition of copper(II) bound in the complex, centered near 620 nanometers. White material is the free peptide or a complex that has lost its metal. A solution that fades has changed its copper coordination state, and green or brown discoloration indicates oxidation state change or degradation. Color is the fastest available identity and stability check.