GHK-Cu is the copper(II) complex of the naturally occurring human tripeptide glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine. Most of its documented actions — matrix remodelling, wound repair, and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects — come from laboratory and animal studies, with human evidence still limited (Mateescu et al., 2026; Jeon et al., 2026). It is used as a cosmetic and dermatologic ingredient, not as an approved systemic medicine.
By Tessaro Pty Ltd, the maker of Pepti · Last reviewed
This page is a reference, not a protocol. It sets out what the published literature actually reports about GHK-Cu, labels which findings come from cell cultures, which from animals and which from people, explains why there is no human half-life to build a decay curve from, and describes what a clean tracking record holds. It contains no dose figures and no schedule, and a section further down explains why that is deliberate rather than an omission.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Class / type | Copper-binding tripeptide — glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine complexed with copper(II); occurs naturally in the body |
| Evidence base | Predominantly cell (in vitro) and animal studies; a smaller number of short, small human skin studies |
| Half-life | No reliable human half-life has been published |
| Regulatory status | Not an approved drug in any jurisdiction; used as a cosmetic ingredient |
GHK (glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine) is a naturally occurring human tripeptide that binds copper(II) to form the chelated complex written GHK-Cu (Mateescu et al., 2026). It is described in the literature as a copper-binding peptide with roles in matrix remodelling and tissue repair, and it is the copper complex that is studied for the effects discussed below.
Cell and in-vitro work. In cell and biochemical studies, GHK-Cu has been reported to support matrix remodelling and to show anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity in skin-cell models (Mateescu et al., 2026; Jeon et al., 2026). These are in-vitro findings: they describe what isolated cells do in a dish, not a measured outcome in a person.
Animal work. In animal and wound-model research, copper tripeptides including GHK-Cu have been studied for tissue repair and wound healing (Mateescu et al., 2026; Adnan et al., 2025). The documented regeneration evidence is described in recent reviews as drawn chiefly from preclinical, animal and cell work. Animal results are suggestive, not a substitute for human data.
Human work. Human evidence is far narrower than the preclinical record. Recent reviews describe the clinical evidence base for GHK-Cu as sparse and not yet meeting contemporary quality standards, and note that well-designed human trials are still needed (Mateescu et al., 2026). In practice it is used as an ingredient in cosmetic and dermatologic products rather than as an approved medicine, and there is no regulator-approved indication for it.
No reliable human half-life has been published. GHK-Cu is studied mainly as a topical and cosmetic ingredient rather than a systemic injectable medicine, and no human pharmacokinetic half-life for it appears in the reviewed literature (Mateescu et al., 2026). A half-life is the time taken for half of what is present to clear; without a measured value, there is nothing to base a decay curve on.
Any decay line drawn for GHK-Cu would be a guess, not data. If a specific value has been given to you for the material you actually hold, the half-life decay calculator can work from the number you enter — but the number has to be real, and it has to be yours. Absent that, your record is a dated history of entries rather than a modelled decay curve, and that is the honest version.
Because GHK-Cu is sold as a cosmetic ingredient rather than an approved medicine, there is no regulated drug label setting storage conditions for it. That makes the handling instructions supplied with your material the authority, not anything written on a general reference page.
The record-keeping point is the durable one. Note what your supplier specifies, and note what you actually did. If your material arrived as a lyophilised powder, the date you reconstituted it and the concentration you ended up with are the two facts a record most often loses. Pepti stores them alongside the entry so a figure written a month ago is still legible today.
Pepti is a record-keeping and measurement tool, so tracking GHK-Cu in it is the same disciplined logging it applies to anything else: each administration on a dated timeline, so the history is written down rather than remembered.
If your material came as a powder, the reconstitution calculator converts the figures you already have into a draw volume and a count of doses per vial. The arithmetic is held as variables, never as numbers we supply: the concentration is the amount in the vial divided by the volume of water you add; the draw volume is your figure divided by that concentration; and the syringe units are the draw volume multiplied by one hundred. You enter your own figure; Pepti does the division.
Because any injected material should move around the body rather than landing in the same spot each time, the injection site rotation guide sets out how to rotate sites systematically, and Pepti keeps a 12-site sequence so the next administration goes somewhere new. And because no human half-life has been published for GHK-Cu, the half-life decay calculator is meaningful only if you enter a value you have been given for your own material — it will not invent one for you.
GHK-Cu has no approved label anywhere in the world, which means there is no authorised amount, no approved schedule, and no clinician-facing guidance for using it outside a cosmetic formulation. Any figure published as a “typical” amount for it is not drawn from an approved source, because no such source exists. It is drawn from forum consensus, from vendor copy, or from someone's extrapolation of a cell-culture concentration to a whole human body.
Pepti is a measurement and record-keeping tool. It converts a figure you already have into a draw volume and syringe units, tracks what is left in each vial, and remembers where the last injection went. It does not supply the figure, and it will not, for this compound or any other. Pages that publish amount tables for unapproved compounds are publishing folklore with the typography of evidence — the numbers look authoritative because they sit in a table, not because anything stands behind them. The figure belongs to you and whoever directs your use. The arithmetic is what we are for.
A record worth keeping is less about volume of detail than about the few fields that stay useful months later. For GHK-Cu, those are the following.
GHK-Cu is a copper complex of the tripeptide glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine (GHK), a small peptide that occurs naturally in the human body and is also made synthetically. It binds copper. Most of what is known about it comes from laboratory and animal studies, with human evidence still limited.
No. GHK-Cu is not an approved drug in any country for any medical use. It is used as an ingredient in cosmetic and skincare products. Because it has no approved label, there is no authorised amount, no approved schedule, and no regulated storage or handling instructions for it as a medicine.
No reliable human half-life has been published. GHK-Cu is studied mainly as a topical and cosmetic ingredient rather than an injectable medicine, so there is no human pharmacokinetic value to build a decay curve from. A half-life calculator can only work from a real number you have been given for your own material.
Mostly from cells and animals. Collagen and glycosaminoglycan synthesis has been shown in skin-cell cultures, and wound healing and new blood vessel growth in animal models such as rabbits, rats, mice and pigs. Human evidence is narrower and comes mainly from small, short facial-skin studies. This page labels each claim by the kind of study it came from.
No. Pepti supplies no amount figures for GHK-Cu or anything else. It records the figure you already have from whoever directs your use, converts it into a draw volume and syringe units, tracks what is left in each vial, and keeps the site sequence. The arithmetic is ours; the figure is not.
This page is a reference on published evidence and record-keeping. It does not recommend GHK-Cu or any other substance, and it provides no amount, no titration figure, and no schedule. GHK-Cu is not an approved medicine; it is used as a cosmetic ingredient.
The Pepti peptide tracker for iPhone keeps the dated log, the site sequence, the vial count and your own outcome notes in one place.
Not medical advice. Pepti is a record-keeping and measurement tool, not a medical device.
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