Anti-AgingPeer Reviewed

Intranasal GHK peptide enhances resilience to cognitive decline in aging mice.

Authors (8)
Matthew Tucker
Addison KeelyDepartment of Comparative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle WA.
Joo Young ParkDepartment of Comparative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle WA.
Manuela RosenfeldDepartment of Comparative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle WA.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
Unknown
Published
Oct 13, 2025
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Abstract

Brain aging and cognitive decline are aspects of growing old. Age-related cognitive impairment entails the early stages of cognitive decline, and is extremely common, affecting millions of older people. Investigation into early cognitive decline as a treatable condition is relevant to a wide range of cognitive impairment conditions, since mild age-related neuropathology increases risk for more severe neuropathology and dementia associated with Alzheimer's Disease. Recent studies suggest that the naturally occurring peptide GHK (glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine) in its Cu-bound form, has the potential to treat cognitive decline associated with aging. In order to test this concept, male and female C57BL/6 mice, 20 months of age, were given intranasal GHK-Cu, 15 mg/kg daily, for two months. Results showed that mice treated with intranasal GHK-Cu had an enhanced level of cognitive performance in spatial memory and learning navigation tasks, and expressed decreased neuroinflammatory and axonal damage markers compared to mice treated with intranasal saline. These observations suggest that GHK-Cu can enhance resilience to brain aging, and has translational implications for further testing in both preclinical and clinical studies using an atomizer device for intranasal delivery.

Keywords

Aging mouse modelBrain agingCognitive declineGHK-CuIntranasal deliveryNeuropathology

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