WAYPOINT 07 / THE SOURCE LEDGER
GHK-Cu references: every waypoint, marked to its study
The full citation list behind this digest — fifteen peer-reviewed studies and reviews, with DOIs and PubMed or PMC links so every claim can be walked back to source.
How to read this GHK-Cu reference list
These are the GHK-Cu references cited across the digest, numbered to match the inline markers on every page. Each entry gives the study, its journal and year, and a DOI plus a PubMed or PMC link. The list is deliberately short and deliberately exact: fifteen primary studies and reviews chosen because the rest of the site cites them, not to pad a bibliography. Where a claim on another page carries a bracketed number, this is the study it points to. The honest caveats noted throughout — no validated human pharmacokinetics, small human sample sizes, a foundational literature concentrated in one investigator's work — are visible directly in the spread of these citations.
- Maquart FX, Pickart L, Laurent M, Gillery P, Monboisse JC, Borel JP. Stimulation of collagen synthesis in fibroblast cultures by the tripeptide-copper complex glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu2+. FEBS Lett. 1988;238(2):343-346. ↗
- Pickart L, Margolina A. Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19(7):1987. ↗
- Pickart L, Vasquez-Soltero JM, Margolina A. GHK Peptide as a Natural Modulator of Multiple Cellular Pathways in Skin Regeneration. Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:648108. ↗
- Lee WJ, Sim HB, Jang YH, Lee SJ, Kim DW, Yim SH. Efficacy of a Complex of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid and Glycyl-Histidyl-Lysine Peptide on Hair Growth. Ann Dermatol. 2016;28(4):438-443. ↗
- Hostynek JJ, Dreher F, Maibach HI. Human skin penetration of a copper tripeptide in vitro as a function of skin layer. Inflamm Res. 2011;60(1):79-86. ↗
- Pickart L. The human tri-peptide GHK and tissue remodeling. J Biomater Sci Polym Ed. 2008;19(8):969-988. ↗
- Dou Y, Lee A, Zhu L, Morton J, Ladiges W. The potential of GHK as an anti-aging peptide. Aging Pathobiol Ther. 2020;2(1):58-61. ↗
- Campbell JD, McDonough JE, Zeskind JE, et al. A gene expression signature of emphysema-related lung destruction and its reversal by the tripeptide GHK. Genome Med. 2012;4(8):67. ↗
- Endo T, Miyagi M, Ujiie A. Simultaneous determination of glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine and its metabolite, L-histidyl-L-lysine, in rat plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with post-column derivatization. J Chromatogr B Biomed Sci Appl. 1997;692(1):37-42. ↗
- Bobyntsev II, Chernysheva OI, Dolgintsev ME, Smakhtin MY, Belykh AE. Anxiolytic effects of Gly-His-Lys peptide and its analogs. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2015;158(6):726-728. ↗
- Sever'yanova LA, Dolgintsev ME. Effects of Tripeptide Gly-His-Lys in Pain-Induced Aggressive-Defensive Behavior in Rats. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2017;164(2):140-143. ↗
- Arul V, Kartha R, Jayakumar R. Biotinylated GHK peptide incorporated collagenous matrix: A novel biomaterial for dermal wound healing in rats. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2005;73(2):383-391. ↗
- Trachy RE, Fors TD, Pickart L, Uno H. The hair follicle-stimulating properties of peptide copper complexes. Results in C3H mice. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1991;642:468-469. ↗
- Mortazavi SM, Mohammadi Vadoud SA, Moghimi HR. Topically applied GHK as an anti-wrinkle peptide: Advantages, problems and prospective. BioImpacts. 2025. ↗
- He Q, Mazzola J, Ladiges W. The naturally occurring peptide GHK reverses age-related fibrosis by modulating myofibroblast function. Aging Pathobiol Ther. 2024. ↗