Cartalax
Cartalax (Ala-Glu-Asp), cartilage peptide bioregulator
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
Also known as: Kartalax, AED peptide, Ala-Glu-Asp
In plain English, from Aaron
This is how I would explain it to a friend. The evidence, with the numbers, is further down the page.
Cartalax is a tiny peptide sold for sore joints. It is three amino acids long. The whole idea is that it tells old cartilage cells to act young again. Almost all of the work on it was done in a dish, by the same lab that came up with it. Nobody has shown it does anything to a real joint.
What people take it for
- Knee and hip pain that has been building for years.
- Hope that cartilage can be rebuilt instead of replaced.
- Feeling less stiff in the morning.
- A gentler option than surgery or steroid shots.
What the trials actually showed
There are no trials. What exists is cell culture. In a dish, this peptide shifted the proteins that mark old cartilage cells. Three of those markers went down. One called Sirt1 went up. That is a change in a dish, not less pain in a knee. One review from 2023 says the peptide helped older people with joint pain when taken by mouth. I went looking for that study and could not find it. The review was written by the group that makes the peptide. There is one small human report in this family, and it is for a different product called Sigumir. That one gave 62 older patients a jaw joint treatment on top of dental work and other drugs. No control group.
What people report
Reports, not trial results
The good
- Some people say their knees feel looser after a few weeks of capsules.
- It is cheap compared to most joint treatments.
- Taken by mouth, so no needles for the capsule version.
- People like that it is a short course rather than a daily forever pill.
The bad
- Plenty of people say they felt nothing at all.
- Nobody knows the side effects. Not one study in this whole peptide family lists them. That is missing data, not a clean record.
- You cannot tell what is in the capsule. There is no published test of any retail product.
- Joint pain comes and goes on its own, so it is very easy to credit the pill for a good month.
Where these come from: Peptide forums and vendor pages. None of this comes from a trial, because there are no trials. The 62 patient jaw report is a published study of a different product.
My bottom line
A dish is not a knee. Nobody outside the lab that sells this has run a real trial. I would put the money into losing weight, lifting, and blood work instead. That is what actually moves joint pain.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
Overview
A three amino acid peptide studied almost entirely in cell culture by the group that developed it. The only human claim is a sentence in a 2023 review saying it was given orally to older osteoarthritis patients; no primary report of that human use has been located.
Cartalax is Ala-Glu-Asp, written AED, one of a family of ultrashort peptides designed at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology and assigned to cartilage. It is sold to consumers as a joint and cartilage bioregulator.
What exists in the indexed literature is cell culture work. AED was compared against a cartilage polypeptide complex for its effect on the senescence-associated secretory phenotype of chondrocytes, and was studied alongside other short peptides in human periodontal ligament stem cells and in aging human mesenchymal stem cell cultures. In those experiments it changed the expression of proteins and genes tied to senescence and differentiation.
That is not the same as showing it does anything to a joint. Chondrocyte protein expression in a dish is a surrogate, and no study located here measured pain, function, cartilage thickness or any clinical outcome in a living animal or a person with the peptide alone.
The human claim is worth stating exactly. A 2023 review by the same institute states that Sigumir, a cartilage and bone polypeptide complex, and the AED tripeptide have shown efficacy in animal models of osteoarthritis and on oral administration in older patients with osteoarthritis. That is a review assertion. The primary human report behind it was not located in PubMed under any search run for this entry, and the review itself is authored by the group that holds the work.
Mechanism of action
Proposed as epigenetic regulation by an ultrashort peptide that enters the cell and interacts with DNA and histones to shift transcription. In chondrocyte work AED is reported to normalise a senescence pattern characterised by raised p16, p21, p53, TNF-alpha and IL-1-alpha and lowered Sirt1. A 2023 transport paper lists AED among 26 biologically active ultrashort peptides and models their carriage across LAT and PEPT family transporters, which is a feasibility argument for how such a peptide could reach a cell interior rather than a demonstration that it does so in a person at a consumer dose.
Reading the research record
The nearest thing to human evidence in this corner of the family is not for Cartalax at all. It is for Sigumir, the cartilage and bone polypeptide complex, which was given to 62 patients in older age groups with temporomandibular joint disease alongside dental prosthetics and other therapy, in an uncontrolled Russian report. That is a different preparation, given as part of a package of treatments, with no control group.
Everything in the Khavinson peptide bioregulator family shares one structural problem, and it is not a problem with the chemistry. Not one compound in the family has a registered clinical trial: ClinicalTrials.gov returns zero studies for epitalon, thymalin, cortexin, retinalamin, prostatilen and epithalamin alike, on a query shape that returns results for ordinary drugs. The literature sits almost entirely in three journals, Advances in Gerontology, Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine and Vestnik Oftalmologii, most of it in Russian with English abstracts only, and most of it authored by the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology or by Anisimov's group in the same city. No independent replication outside those groups has been located for any of the lifespan claims. Separately, no adverse event data appears in any of the abstracts retrieved for this family. The Russian literature in this area does not systematically report safety endpoints, and that absence should be read as missing data rather than as a clean safety record.
The evidence, charted
Fig. 1 · evidence composition
0of 5 citations (0%) are in people
Counted from the citation list on this page. The Human count is the same number shown in the badge at the top. Both understate any literature larger than the sources we cite.
Fig. 2 · evidence over time
Evidence spans 3 distinct years, 2019 to 2023, counted from the citation list on this page.
Fig. 3 · legal status at a glance
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
AU
Not approved
CA
Not approved
Not approved in any of the four jurisdictions shown. A jurisdiction's classification is a regulatory fact, not a verdict on the science; see Legal status below for the full text and any notes.
Fig. 4 · dose response
No human dose response curve exists
We draw this figure where the data supports it. For this compound in humans it does not, so the panel stays empty rather than borrowing an animal curve and implying it transfers.
Key studies & citations
- Review2023
[Chondrocytes secretory phenotype associated with aging: role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis and prospects for peptide bioregulation.].
A Russian-language review from the St. Petersburg institute. It states that Sigumir, a polypeptide complex of cartilage and bone tissue of young animals, and the AED tripeptide, named in the text as Kartalax, have shown efficacy in animal models of osteoarthritis and on oral administration in patients with osteoarthritis in older age groups. This sentence is the entire published basis for the human claim. No primary trial report behind it was located, and the review is written by the group that developed the peptide.
Advances in Gerontology - In vitro2023
[Peptides prevent the forming of secretory phenotype of chondrocytes associated with the aging.].
Cell culture. The senescence-associated secretory phenotype of chondrocytes was characterised by raised p16, p21 and p53, raised TNF-alpha and IL-1-alpha, and lowered Sirt1. Both the AED peptide and a cartilage polypeptide complex normalised the synthesis of those molecules. Chondrocytes in culture, not joints, and no clinical endpoint was measured.
Advances in Gerontology - In vitro2020
Gene expression in human mesenchymal stem cell aging cultures: modulation by short peptides.
Human embryonic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells aged in passage and stationary culture, treated with AED, KED and Lys-Glu. Gene expression changes were reported in aged cultures. Human-derived cells in a dish, no person dosed.
Molecular Biology Reports - In vitro2019
Effect of short peptides on neuronal differentiation of stem cells.
Human periodontal ligament stem cells exposed to AED, KED, Lys-Glu and AEDG. The combination of all four peptides and KED alone raised GAP-43 and nestin expression. Notably the effect the authors highlight is for KED and for the mixture, not for AED on its own, and the setting is cell culture.
International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology - In vitro2023
Feasibility of Transport of 26 Biologically Active Ultrashort Peptides via LAT and PEPT Family Transporters.
Lists AED among 26 ultrashort peptides with published sequences and models their transport across amino acid and peptide transporter families. Establishes that the sequence is real and that a transport route is plausible. Establishes nothing about effect.
Biomolecules
Frequently asked questions
Does Cartalax rebuild cartilage?
No study has measured cartilage in a person given this peptide. The published work is cell culture showing changes in chondrocyte senescence markers. A protein expression change in a dish is not cartilage growth.
Has Cartalax been tested in humans?
A 2023 review from the originating institute says the AED tripeptide showed efficacy on oral administration in older osteoarthritis patients. No primary report of that study was located in PubMed. Treat it as an unverified claim by the group that developed the compound.
What is the sequence?
Alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid. Written AED. It is one of the 26 ultrashort peptides listed in a 2023 transport paper, so the sequence itself is documented even though the clinical claims are not.
Is Cartalax safe?
Unknown. No adverse event data appears in any abstract retrieved for this compound or for the wider Khavinson family. That is missing data, not a clean safety record. The Russian literature here does not systematically report safety endpoints.
How is Cartalax different from Sigumir?
Cartalax is a defined three amino acid synthetic peptide. Sigumir is an extract, a polypeptide complex from the cartilage and bone of young animals, so its contents are not fully specified. Sigumir has the small uncontrolled human report; Cartalax does not.