Everything below concerns thymalfasin. We keep the language plain, cite what the science says, and separate well-supported claims from open questions.
Last reviewed on 2026-01-02. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
20世纪70年代，研究者从胸腺提取物中纯化出多种小肽，Tα1是其中被较早表征的一种。最初的制备依赖组织匀浆和层析步骤，产量低且成分复杂。随着固相肽合成技术成熟，实验室和工业界能够生产与天然序列一致的合成版本。合成肽的纯度可达95%以上，并可通过反相高效液相色谱和质谱进行鉴定。这一转变使研究不再依赖动物胸腺来源。
市售的胸腺素α1通常以冻干粉形式提供，溶解后用于注射。其氨基酸组成包括多个酸性残基，因此在中性pH下带负电荷。该肽可溶于水和生理盐水，但在有机溶剂中溶解度有限。储存条件通常为冻干状态下负20摄氏度，溶解后需冷藏并避免反复冻融。常见的同义词包括胸腺肽α1、thymalfasin和Tα1。
胸腺素α1（thymosin alpha 1，Tα1）是一种由28个氨基酸组成的酸性肽，N端被乙酰化，分子量约为3108道尔顿。该肽最早从牛胸腺组织提取物中分离，属于胸腺素组分5的一个成分。其序列在不同哺乳动物中高度保守，提示其具有基本的生物学功能。名称中的“α1”指其在电泳中的迁移位置，并非表示亚型编号。它既存在于胸腺，也存在于脾脏和淋巴结等免疫组织。
Thymosin beta-4 is a separate 43-residue peptide that binds actin and participates in cell migration; it shares no sequence similarity with thymosin alpha-1 despite the common family name. Other preparative materials, such as thymosin fraction 5 and thymopoietin, contain distinct mixtures or peptides. The shared thymosin label reflects the tissue of origin used in early purification, not a common structural core. Treating these molecules as interchangeable is a frequent source of confusion in laboratory reports and in popular summaries alike.
Thymosin alpha-1 is a synthetic peptide of 28 amino acid residues that corresponds to a naturally occurring fragment first isolated from thymus tissue. Its chain is acetylated at the amino terminus, a modification that shields the peptide from rapid cleavage by aminopeptidases. The molecule carries a net negative charge at physiological pH and dissolves freely in water. Researchers classify it as an immune-modulating agent rather than a classical hormone, because it acts on several cell types of both the innate and the adaptive immune system.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 化学分类 | 线性肽 | 由28个氨基酸组成 |
| 分子量 | 约3108 Da | 合成版本一致 |
| 外观 | 白色至类白色粉末 | 冻干品 |
| 溶解度 | 易溶于水 | 微溶于有机溶剂 |
| 储存温度 | -20°C（冻干） | 溶解后2-8°C |
Biologically, the peptide is studied mainly in the context of immune cell development and regulation. It is produced in the thymus and in several other tissues, and it appears to influence the maturation and activity of T cells and other immune populations. Laboratory work describes effects on cytokine production, on the balance between T cell subsets, and on the function of dendritic cells. Much of this evidence comes from cell culture and animal models, so the extent to which the same pathways operate in humans remains an open question.
Clinical interest has centered on chronic viral hepatitis, on immune restoration in various conditions, and on use as an adjuvant intended to improve responses to vaccines. Trials have reported mixed results, and regulatory status differs sharply between countries; in some places it is a prescription product, while elsewhere it is sold without an approved therapeutic indication. Because published studies vary widely in design, population, and endpoints, comparisons across them are difficult and no single conclusion covers the whole literature.
The peptide is generated in cells by cleavage of prothymosin alpha, a larger acidic protein encoded by the PTMA gene. Prothymosin alpha is expressed in many tissues, not only in the thymus, and its functions include nuclear roles in chromatin-related processes. The 28-residue fragment corresponds to the N-terminal portion of that precursor. How the cleavage occurs and how the fragment's concentration is regulated remain open questions; circulating amounts are small and difficult to measure reliably with routine assays.
Thymosin alpha 1 is a short peptide first isolated from bovine thymus tissue in the early 1970s during fractionation work aimed at identifying factors that influence T cell development. It belongs to a family of acidic thymic peptides, and the original preparations contained several components that were later separated by chromatography. The compound is now produced synthetically rather than extracted from tissue, which removes batch variability tied to animal sourcing. Researchers describe it as an immunomodulatory peptide because laboratory studies show effects on several cell types of the innate and adaptive immune systems.
Whether the free 28-residue peptide circulates in human tissue remains debated. The best-documented human source is prothymosin alpha, a larger acidic protein that carries the sequence at its N-terminus. Reports of measurable peptide levels in serum and lymphoid tissue exist, yet some of that signal may come from cross-reacting fragments or from the parent protein. Most reviews therefore treat prothymosin alpha as the established human molecule and describe independent circulation of the small peptide as an unresolved question.
Immunological studies connect the peptide to multiple parts of the immune response. It has been reported to engage Toll-like receptor signaling, to promote dendritic cell maturation, and to influence the balance of T helper cell subsets. Changes in natural killer cell activity and in cytokine release appear in cell culture and animal models. These observations describe broad immunomodulatory behavior rather than a single defined receptor target, and the primary molecular interaction has not been settled.
Identity and purity are usually assessed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, which separates the target peptide from truncated or chemically modified byproducts. Mass spectrometry confirms the expected molecular mass and can indicate acetylation state or sequence errors. Amino acid analysis and peptide mapping supply complementary sequence-level information, while endotoxin testing is relevant for preparations intended for cell or animal work. Purity figures reported by suppliers refer to the method used and are not directly comparable across laboratories unless conditions are stated.
Lyophilized material is typically treated as a hygroscopic solid that should be brought to room temperature before the container is opened, which limits condensation on the powder. Reconstitution is commonly done with sterile water or a buffered diluent, and gentle mixing is preferred over vigorous agitation to reduce foaming and surface adsorption. Because peptides can bind to plastic and glass, diluents containing a small amount of carrier protein are sometimes used in laboratory work. Working solutions are generally aliquoted and prepared fresh rather than subjected to repeated freezing and thawing.
An academic discipline – one with academic departments, curricula and degrees; national and international societies; and specialized journals. A scientific field (a branch of science) – widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, and typically embodies its own terminology and nomenclature. Such a field will usually be represented by one or more scientific journals, where peer-reviewed research is published. There are several chemistry-related scientific journals. A natural science – one that seeks to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world using empirical and scientific method. A physical science – one that studies non-living systems. A biological science – one that studies the role of chemicals and chemical processes in living organisms. See Outline of biochemistry.
Among measures it introduces is a licensing scheme for land where grouse shooting takes place, and regulations for traps. 22 March – A report prepared by Stirling University calls for artificial 3G football pitches to be banned in Scotland because they contain potentially cancer causing chemicals. Jasmin Paris from Midlothian becomes the first woman to complete the Barkley Marathons in the US state of Tennessee, doing so with one minute 39 seconds to spare of the 60-hour cut off. 27 March – Following a three-week hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, former private school teacher John Brownlee, who worked at the Edinburgh Academy between 1967 and 1987, is found to have physically abused bos in his charge. He will not face trial though as he was earlier deemed to be medically unfit to do so. A group calling itself INC Ransom threatens to publish data stolen from NHS Dumfries and Galloway. VisitScotland announces that its 25 information centres will close over the next two years. 28 March – The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, a bill to legalise assisted dying in Scotland and drafted by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, is introduced into the Scottish Parliament.
== Research == Nandrolone esters have been studied in several indications. They were intensively studied for osteoporosis, and increased calcium uptake and decreased bone loss, but caused virilization in about half of the women who took them and were mostly abandoned for this use when better drugs like the bisphosphonates became available. They have also been studied in clinical trials for chronic kidney failure, aplastic anemia, and as male contraceptives.
Flotufolastat (18F), sold under the brand name Posluma, is a radioactive diagnostic agent for use with positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for prostate cancer. The active ingredient is flotufolastat (18F). Flotufolastat (18F) was approved for medical use in the United States in May 2023.
hemizygous In a diploid organism, having just one allele at a given genetic locus (where there would ordinarily be two). Hemizygosity may be observed when only one copy of a chromosome is present in a normally diploid cell or organism, or when a segment of a chromosome containing one copy of an allele is deleted, or when a gene is located on a sex chromosome in the heterogametic sex (in which the sex chromosomes do not exist in matching pairs); for example, in human males with normal chromosomes, almost all X-linked genes are said to be hemizygous because there is only one X chromosome and few of the same genes exist on the Y chromosome.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
However, Sertürner became addicted to the drug, warning that "I consider it my duty to attract attention to the terrible effects of this new substance I called morphium in order that calamity may be averted." The drug was first marketed to the general public by Sertürner and Company in 1817 as a pain medication, and also as a treatment for opium and alcohol addiction. It was first used as a poison in 1822 when Edme Castaing of France was convicted of murdering a patient. Commercial production began in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1827 by the pharmacy that became the pharmaceutical company Merck, with morphine sales being a large part of their early growth. In the 1850s, Alexander Wood reported that he had injected morphine into his wife Rebecca as an experiment; the myth goes that this killed her because of respiratory depression, but she outlived her husband by ten years. Later it was found that morphine was more addictive than either alcohol or opium, and its extensive use during the American Civil War allegedly resulted in over 400,000 people with the "soldier's disease" of morphine addiction. This idea has been a subject of controversy, as there have been suggestions that such a disease was in fact a fabrication; the first documented use of the phrase "soldier's disease" was in 1915. Diacetylmorphine (better known as heroin) was synthesized from morphine in 1874 and brought to market by Bayer in 1898. Heroin is approximately 1.5 to 2 times more potent than morphine weight for weight.
The epithelial cells are connected by tight junctions, forming the major electrical resistive barrier, and thus establishing an electrical gradient across the epithelium – the transepithelial potential (TEP). Breaking the epithelial barrier, as occurs in any wounds, creates a hole that breaches the high electrical resistance established by the tight junctions in the epithelial sheet, short-circuiting the epithelium locally. The TEP therefore drops to zero at the wound. However, normal ion transport continues in unwounded epithelial cells beyond the wound edge (typically <1 mm away), driving positive charge flow out of the wound and establishing a steady, laterally-oriented electric field (EF) with the cathode at the wound. Skin also generates a TEP, and when a skin wound is made, similar wound electric currents and fields arise, until the epithelial barrier function recovers to terminate the short-circuit at the wound. When wound electric fields are manipulated with pharmacological agents that either stimulate or inhibit transport of ions, the wound electric fields also increase or decrease, respectively. Wound healing can be speed up or slowed down accordingly in cornea wounds. How do electric fields affect wound healing? To heal wounds, cells surrounding the wound must migrate and grow directionally into the wound to cover the defect and restore the barrier. Cells important to heal wounds respond remarkably well to applied electric fields of the same strength that are measured at wounds.
=== Production and secretion === During pregnancy, the syncytiotrophoblast cells of the placenta produce a polypeptide hormone, human placental lactogen (hPL), also known as human chorionic somatomammotropin (hCS). in six weeks of gestation, production of hPL in maternal plasma is detected, then the concentration of hPL keeps increasing until week 30 of pregnancy. The secretion rate of hPL is one gram per day, which is the highest rate compared to other hormones.
=== Kronlein shot === The "Kronlein shot" (German: Krönleinschuss) is a distinctive type of headshot wound that can only be created by a high velocity rifle bullet or shotgun slug. In a Kronlein shot, the intact brain is ejected from the skull and deposited some distance from the victim's body. This type of wound is believed to be caused by a hydrodynamic effect. Hydraulic pressure generated within the skull by a high velocity bullet leads to the explosive ejection of the brain from the fractured skull.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== History == The glyoxylate cycle was discovered in 1957 at the University of Oxford by Sir Hans Kornberg and his mentor Hans Krebs, resulting in a Nature paper Synthesis of Cell Constituents from C2-Units by a Modified Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle. Kornberg and Krebs utilized isotopic labeling with C-14 acetate to demonstrate that in the glyoxylate pathway, the acetate is incorporated into the succinate intermediate while bypassing the decarboxylation steps of the TCA cycle. Their results from isotopic experiments laid the foundation for the alternative glyoxylate cycle and explained how plants as well as microorganisms convert two-carbon molecules into carbohydrates. Following this discovery, in 1967 Breidenbach and Beevers discovered that there is a specialized organelle in castor bean (Ricinus communis), glyoxysomes, which are specialized peroxisomes where the glyoxylate cycle enzymes are found and where the cycle takes place in plants.
=== Alzheimer's disease === The ATP-binding cassette protein ABCC1 has received attention in the last decade due to its possible connection with Alzheimer's disease. One of the more prominent signs of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of β-amyloid proteins in the brain. As these proteins accumulate, they begin to form plaques that interfere with signaling between cells of the nervous system found within the brain. Due to its presence in the choroid plexus and blood-brain barrier and its ability to transport multiple kinds of molecules out of cells, ABCC1 has been a point of interest in many Alzheimer's disease studies. The transporter protein has been shown to decrease β-amyloid accumulation by nearly 80 percent when activated, leading researchers to further investigation on its use in future treatments of Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders.
==== Juvenile breast hypertrophy ==== In 1993, the Japanese journal Surgery Today reported on the case of a 12-year-old girl. Only 152 centimetres (60 in) tall and weighing 43 kilograms (95 lb), her breasts began to develop at age 11 before the onset of menstruation. Over the next eight months, both breasts grew abnormally large, and physicians treating her found that her physiological development was normal except for her breasts. The weight produced by their symmetrical and massive enlargement resulted in marked curvature of the spine. Lab tests of her blood for hormones and biochemical substances showed normal values, though tests revealed that it might have been caused by hypersensitivity to estrogen. She underwent a bilateral reduction mammoplasty. Surgeons removed 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) of tissue from her right breast and 1.9 kilograms (4.2 lb) from her left breast. She was administered tamoxifen afterward to suppress breast regrowth. A more severe case of juvenile breast hypertrophy of an 11-year-old girl was reported in 2008. The breasts had begun to grow rapidly at puberty and had reached the point of causing physical and psychological impairment and possible respiratory compromise after ten months. The skin was intact without any ulcerations. Blood chemistry and endocrine investigation was normal. A bilateral reduction mammaplasty with free nipple grafts was performed. 6 kg (13 lb) of the right breast and 6.5 kg (14 lb) of the left breast were removed, resulting in a removal of 12.5 kg (28 lb) of tissue in all (24% of the total body weight).
The IQOS is a heated tobacco product marketed by Philip Morris International. It heats tobacco at a lower temperature than traditional cigarettes. The tobacco sticks reach a temperature up to 350 °C. It sold first in Japan since November 2014. In December 2016, the United Tobacco Vapor Group's (UTVG) stated that they have been given a patent for their vaporizing component system. QMOS from UTVG does not contain a wick or sponge and the number of components is 5 compared to 20 for traditional e-cigarettes. Pax Labs has developed vaporizers that heats the leaves of tobacco to deliver nicotine in a vapor. In June 2015, they introduced Juul, a type of e-cigarette which delivers 10 times as much nicotine as other e-cigarettes, equivalent to an actual cigarette puff. Juul was spun off from Pax Labs in June 2017 and is now available by the independent company Juul Labs. The eTron 3T from Vapor Tobacco Manufacturing, launched in December 2014, employs a patented, aqueous system whereby the tobacco is extracted into water. The e-liquid contains organic tobacco, organic glycerin, and water. In December 2013, Japan Tobacco launched Ploom in Japan. In January 2016, they launched Ploom TECH that produces a vapor from a heated liquid that moves through a capsule of granulated tobacco leaves. In 2016, British American Tobacco (BAT) released its own version of the heat but not burn technology called glo in Japan and Switzerland. It uses tobacco sticks rather than nicotine liquid, and does not directly heat or burn tobacco.
==== January ==== On 3 January, four members of the "National Army" in Suwayda were attacked by mortars belonging to the General Security. On 11 January, the Syrian government forces launched attacks toward Suwayda from Kanaker and Tal Hadid, and four civilians were injured. The injured were identified as Kinan Adel Al-Badeeish, Sami Salman Allameh, Majd Firas Jazan and Haitham Hani Mazhar. On 24 January, the Syrian government forces reported the death of one of their members in clashes against the National Guard. The Syrian government forces also carried out a special operation in Suwayda to rescue three civilians kidnapped by the National Guard.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
它不是经典的内分泌激素，而是一种免疫调节肽。其作用主要通过局部免疫细胞间的信号传递实现，而非经血液循环作用于远隔器官。
天然胸腺素α1主要从胸腺组织提取，也可在脾脏和淋巴结中检出。目前研究和临床使用的多为化学合成版本，不再依赖动物组织。
胸腺素组分5是牛胸腺提取物的粗组分，包含多种肽。胸腺素α1是其中一种被纯化和表征的单一肽，具有明确的28个氨基酸序列。
It is a 28-residue synthetic peptide studied as an immune-modulating agent and approved as a drug in some countries. The sequence matches a naturally occurring fragment isolated from thymus tissue. It is not a hormone in the endocrine sense.