GHK-Cu

Skin & cosmetic

Also known as copper tripeptide-1, Gly-His-Lys copper

A copper-carrying tripeptide found naturally in plasma. Used topically for skin.

Read this first

The blue colour is a genuine integrity check, not a dye. It comes from the copper's coordination geometry, so a solution that has gone colourless, green or brown has dissociated and should not be used. Keep it out of the light.

How it works

Binds copper with a stability constant slightly above albumin's, which lets it accept copper from albumin and deliver it into tissue. Modulates several thousand human genes, stimulates collagen and dermatan sulfate synthesis at nanomolar concentrations, and rebalances the MMP/TIMP system.

TopicalSubcutaneous

In the body

No plasma curve is shown for this compound.

Unknown. The 25 to 35 minute figure repeated across vendor sites has no primary source. No human pharmacokinetic study was found.

What happens, and when

0 min, 7 dTopical effects build over weeks, not hours. Trials measured change at 4 and 12 weeks.

Doses

500 mcg, 10 mgapplied twice dailyClinical trial

Topical, at cosmetic use levels of 0.05 to 1%. Four controlled human studies over 12 weeks support this route. The papers do not state the cream concentrations used, so 'clinically proven at 1 to 2%' is not traceable to them.

1 mg, 3 mgonce dailyCommunity practice

Injected. There are zero published human trials of injectable GHK-Cu by any route. Note this is 50 to 100 times below the systemic dose Pickart himself estimated from pig data.

Vial sizes

50 mg100 mg

Commonly treated as good for 21 days refrigerated once reconstituted.

Side effects

Topically, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review concluded it is safe as used, with negative irritation, sensitisation and genotoxicity data.
Injected, the dose-limiting effect in animals was lowered blood pressure.
Copper load is the real concern by injection: a 100 mg vial carries roughly 18 mg of elemental copper against a tolerable daily upper intake near 10 mg.

Cautions

Wilson's disease or any disorder of copper handling.
Advanced liver disease, where biliary copper excretion is impaired.
Do not combine with chelators such as EDTA or citrate, with vitamin C or other strong reducing agents, or with acidic diluents, all of these break the copper complex.

Status

A permitted cosmetic ingredient in the EU and US. Not an approved drug. Not listed by WADA.

Sources

Reference information for personal record-keeping. Not medical advice, and not a recommendation to use any of these compounds.