What is GHK-Cu?

GHK and GHK-Cu: the basics

GHK is a tripeptide: a chain of just three amino acids, glycine, histidine and lysine. On its own it is colourless, but it binds copper(II) ions very strongly, and in the body much of it is thought to circulate as the copper complex, GHK-Cu.² The copper is held by nitrogen atoms from the glycine and histidine end of the peptide, which is why GHK is studied both as a signalling molecule and as a carrier that delivers copper to tissues.

How it was discovered

GHK was first described in 1973 by Loren Pickart and Marvin Thaler, who isolated a small peptide from human serum that prolonged the survival of normal liver cells in culture.¹ Most of the research since has come from the same line of work: following what that peptide does to cells and tissues, and why its levels change with age.

Why GHK-Cu is blue

The colour comes from the bound copper. Copper(II) complexes absorb light at the red end of the spectrum, so they look blue: GHK-Cu is a blue powder and dissolves to a blue solution, while GHK without copper is white. It is also why blends that contain GHK-Cu, such as KLOW, are blue.

Natural levels and ageing

GHK occurs naturally in human plasma, saliva and urine. Plasma levels have been reported at about 200 ng/mL at age 20, falling to about 80 ng/mL by age 60.² That decline, which runs alongside the slower tissue repair seen with age, is a large part of why GHK-Cu attracts interest in ageing and regeneration research.

What the research has looked at

Most of the work below was done in cell culture or animal models. It describes what has been studied, not established effects in people.

Collagen and the extracellular matrix

In a 1988 study, GHK-Cu stimulated collagen synthesis by fibroblasts in culture at very low concentrations: the effect began between 10⁻¹² and 10⁻¹¹ M, peaked at 10⁻⁹ M, and did not depend on any change in cell number.³ Later reviews describe effects on both the build-up and the breakdown of the extracellular matrix, including glycosaminoglycans such as dermatan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate, the proteoglycan decorin, and the metalloproteinases and their inhibitors that remodel tissue.²

Wound-healing models

In rat experimental wounds, GHK-Cu increased the accumulation of collagen and other connective-tissue components in a concentration-dependent way, while control peptides had no significant effect.⁴ Reviews of the wider literature report research on blood-vessel and nerve outgrowth, elastin and glycosaminoglycan synthesis, and fibroblast function, with tissue-repair studies in skin, lung connective tissue, bone, liver and stomach lining.⁵

Gene expression

Analyses using the Broad Institute's Connectivity Map, a database of how compounds change gene activity in human cell lines, reported that GHK shifts the expression of thousands of human genes, with many of the changes falling in pathways linked to tissue repair, antioxidant defence and inflammation.^2,5 These are computational signals from cell-line data. They point to directions for laboratory work rather than proving effects in living tissue.

Skin and cosmetic science

Because of its effects on the dermal matrix, GHK-Cu is one of the most studied peptides in skin-regeneration research, and appears in cosmetic formulations under the ingredient name copper tripeptide-1.²

GHK-Cu alongside other repair compounds

GHK-Cu is often studied next to other repair-focused peptides. KLOW combines GHK-Cu with BPC-157, TB-500 and KPV in a single vial, and BPC-157 / TB-500 pairs the two repair peptides without copper. For antioxidant research, GHK-Cu is sometimes paired with glutathione.

Handling GHK-Cu in the lab

Lyophilized GHK-Cu is stable stored frozen at −4 °F and protected from light. Let a vial reach room temperature before opening, reconstitute with bacteriostatic water added slowly down the side of the vial, swirl rather than shake, and keep the solution refrigerated at 36–46 °F.

Before using any lot, check its certificate of analysis. Our current GHK-Cu lot, VD-GHK100-2610, tested at 99.80% purity by HPLC with identity confirmed by LC-MS at VeriPure Labs. View the certificate ↗ or see every lot on our lab reports page.

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Pickart L, Thaler MM. Tripeptide in human serum which prolongs survival of normal liver cells and stimulates growth in neoplastic liver. Nature New Biology. 1973;243(124):85–87. PubMed ↗
2. Pickart L, Vasquez-Soltero JM, Margolina A. GHK peptide as a natural modulator of multiple cellular pathways in skin regeneration. BioMed Research International. 2015;2015:648108. doi:10.1155/2015/648108 ↗
3. 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 Letters. 1988;238(2):343–346. PubMed ↗
4. Maquart FX, Bellon G, Chaqour B, et al. In vivo stimulation of connective tissue accumulation by the tripeptide-copper complex glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu²⁺ in rat experimental wounds. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 1993;92(5):2368–2376. doi:10.1172/JCI116842 ↗
5. Pickart L, Margolina A. Regenerative and protective actions of the GHK-Cu peptide in the light of the new gene data. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2018;19(7):1987. doi:10.3390/ijms19071987 ↗

Research use only. Vivid DNA products are sold strictly for laboratory research. They are not drugs, foods, cosmetics or supplements, are not for human or veterinary use, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Clinical results described here refer to investigational or approved medicines studied under medical supervision, not to research-grade material. This article summarises published research and has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.