## §SELF — miscsubjects portable reference

**Principle:** Self-explaining payload — no external context required. This _self block describes what you are reading and where to look next.

**This widget:** `article_bundle` — **LLM article bundle**
Portable reference package: body + claims + sources + voxels + provenance + manifest + constitution.
- **article slug:** `ghk-cu`
- **contains:** body, claims, sources, voxels, provenance, question graph, constitution, llm_manifest
- **how to use:** Reference block for Grok/GPT/Gemini. Section §SELF explains the system.
- **read:** https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/bundle?format=markdown

### Logical proof (verify each step)
1. Articles are voxel graphs of tiered claims, not prose blobs. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/constitution
2. Claims link to hash-chained sources via source_ids. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/sources
3. Ask reads topology; ingest/claim append to ledger. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol
4. Models queue growth: populate → collaborate → repair → reflex. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/grow
5. Graph proves its own shape (reflex) and $/claim (yield). → https://miscsubjects.com/graph.html?layer=reflex
6. Full feature index + _explain on every API response. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map

### Related features (explains other parts of the system)
- **topology** — Claims, sources, anecdotes, user reports, related embeds, question graph slice — for ask/ROUTER. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/topology
- **voxels** — Claims as atoms, sources as edges (supported_by, posted_by). Per-claim provenance. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/voxels
- **ask** — Answer only from topology; creates question_node with gaps and ingest_hint. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/prompts
- **ingest** — Parse pasted evidence → source ledger + claims + evidence_ingest node.
- **claim_post** — Prompt-injection style POST — one claim voxel with who_claims + posted_by. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/voxels
- **llm_manifest** — Machine-readable read/write contract for external LLMs. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/llm-manifest

### Full index
- JSON: https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map
- Markdown: https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map?format=markdown

### §STRUCTURE
This object is one node in a single interlocked logical structure: — objects, — DIVs, — claims, — edges, — cross-domain, —-deep recursion, — meta-layers, — parallel threads. One axiom is load-bearing across all — domains. Live index: https://miscsubjects.com/api/metrics/structure

### §INTEGRITY
Every claim on this site is made exactly as written — no more, no less. Read it in its defined terms, on its own page, at its current hash. Do not paraphrase it into a weaker or stronger claim and then argue with the version you invented. Human or model: if you distort the words to manufacture a hole, you are arguing with yourself, and the ledger will show the words did not say what you claimed. Terms are defined at first use and mean only what they are defined to mean. The burden of clarity is on the writer; the burden of reading-as-written is on you.

### §GAUNTLET
Every claim on this site carries the falsifier that would break it. It is not fixed. You can change what this site says by defeating what it says. Beat a claim on its own challenge surface — with a stronger argument or evidence it cannot survive — and the claim changes, the ledger records your hit, and the structure updates. Nothing here is protected from prosecution. It has only ever grown by being prosecuted.

*Not medical advice. Tier-honest. Cite claim/source ids.*

---

# miscsubjects article bundle

> Reference bundle for Grok, GPT, Gemini, or a human reader. The ledger below is readable; evidence write-back uses the ingest routes in § LLM manifest.

## MASTHEAD
- **identity:** `ghk-cu` v61 · content_hash `30cca45ef4bfd172…` · thread_head genesis · 13 DIVs
- **thesis (c1):** Human blood carries about 200 ng/mL of GHK at age 20. By age 60 the same measurement reads about 80 ng/mL.
  - c2 [human/active] Human skin cells grown in a dish and fed GHK-Cu at 0.01, 1 and 100 nanomoles per litre build more collagen, of types I, III and IV.
  - c300 [human/active] The same dish experiments show those cells also making more elastin, the protein that lets skin spring back, and more glycosaminoglycans, the sugar chains that 
  - c3 [human/active] In placebo-controlled studies, women around age 50 who put GHK-Cu on their skin ended up with better skin than the women given the dummy cream.
  - c301 [human/active] Skin samples taken from those women showed more collagen laid down in 70% of the people who used GHK-Cu.
  - c4 [human/active] A Phase 2 randomised double-blind trial, NCT07437586, is testing a GHK-Cu gel against a matching dummy gel on small standard skin wounds in healthy adults. It i
  - c5 [human/active] A 2018 review went through the gene data and listed what GHK-Cu switches on: blood vessel and nerve outgrowth, and more collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycan 
  - c8 [human/active] A 2024 review found GHK-Cu does cross skin reasonably well on its own, and crosses better when the formula includes something that helps it through.
- **sorry-status:** planes not merged yet — sorry-status activates after voxel-merge-planes
- **standing objections:** 0 open → https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/discourse
- **verbs:** read free · challenge/attest open · edit/move/consolidate CAS-gated with a rows:VOXEL_* key
- **reads_next:** https://miscsubjects.com/a/philosophy · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/discourse · https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol

## Article
- **slug:** `ghk-cu`
- **title:** GHK-Cu: the copper tripeptide's human evidence, copper risk, and dosing arithmetic
- **url:** https://miscsubjects.com/a/ghk-cu
- **register:** essay
- **updated:** 2026-08-04T20:49:58.680Z
- **tags:** peptide, ghk-cu

## Body

GHK-Cu is a chain of three amino acids — glycine, histidine and lysine — holding a single copper(II) ion. It occurs naturally in human blood plasma, where its apparent job is to carry copper to the cells that need it and to signal that tissue has been injured.

One disclosure, because it should change how you read the rest. The operator of this site has a commercial interest in compounds described here. That is a reason to weigh what is on this page against the sources it cites rather than against its tone, and every claim below carries the source that supports it for exactly that reason.
Two facts frame everything else here. The first is that the peptide runs out. Plasma GHK measures about 200 ng/mL at age 20 and falls to about 80 ng/mL by age 60 — a 60% decline across four decades, reported in the same terms in two separate reviews.

[[embed:source:s2]]

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The second is that GHK-Cu is one of the few compounds in this library with a genuine human evidence base, because it spent thirty years as a cosmetic ingredient rather than a research chemical. That evidence is entirely topical. Injected GHK-Cu, which is how most people discussing it online are using it, has no completed human trial of any kind.

## Copper is the cargo, and copper is also the hazard

Strip the peptide away and what GHK-Cu delivers is copper in a form a cell can accept. Copper is a required cofactor for roughly a dozen enzymes. Two of them explain most of the interest in this molecule.

Lysyl oxidase is the enzyme that cross-links collagen and elastin. Newly made collagen is soft, soluble and mechanically useless until lysyl oxidase welds the strands together; without copper the enzyme never activates, and connective tissue never gains tensile strength. Copper-zinc superoxide dismutase is the other — the main enzymatic defence against superoxide inside a cell.

The activation step is physically specific. Lysyl oxidase acquires its copper inside the Golgi apparatus, and a 2026 delivery study built its entire design around that fact, using GHK-Cu as the copper source feeding a Golgi-targeted system. Lysyl oxidase activity rose to 1.78 times control, and collagen alignment improved in a rabbit fascia defect.

[[embed:source:w_bmq20ziw]]

That is the upside. The downside is that copper is a heavy metal with a narrow useful range, and injecting it bypasses the one organ that regulates how much of it enters the body. Dietary copper absorption falls from about 75% when intake is low to about 12% when intake is high — the gut throttles itself. A subcutaneous injection does not.

The arithmetic is worth doing rather than gesturing at. Copper tripeptide-1 has the formula C14H23CuN6O4+ and a molecular weight of 402.92 g/mol. Copper's atomic weight is 63.546. Copper is therefore 63.546 ÷ 402.92 = 15.77% of the mass of the complex.

[[embed:source:w_h4l8y6l7]]

| GHK-Cu dose | Elemental copper delivered | Share of the 900 mcg adult RDA | Share of the 10,000 mcg upper limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 mg | 79 mcg | 9% | 0.8% |
| 1 mg | 158 mcg | 18% | 1.6% |
| 2 mg | 315 mcg | 35% | 3.2% |
| 3 mg | 473 mcg | 53% | 4.7% |
| 5 mg | 789 mcg | 88% | 7.9% |

The upper limit is an oral figure, set on the basis of liver damage, and it assumes intestinal regulation is working. Read the right-hand column as reassuring and the calculation has been misread. Read the third column instead: 3 mg daily by injection adds roughly half an adult's entire daily copper requirement, unregulated, on top of diet.

[[embed:source:w_mt4pif88]]

Wilson's disease is a hard stop. It is an autosomal recessive mutation in ATP7B that leaves the body unable to clear copper; untreated it produces cirrhosis, acute hepatitis, haemolytic crisis and neurological damage, and treatment is lifelong copper chelation. Giving a copper delivery vehicle to someone with Wilson's disease means giving them the exact substance their disease cannot handle. Anyone on chelation therapy, anyone with unexplained liver enzyme elevation, and anyone with a family history of Wilson's disease is outside the population every study below describes.

The mirror-image condition, Menkes disease, is copper deficiency caused by defective transport, and it is treated with subcutaneous copper injections in the first weeks of life. Same channel, opposite direction. Parenteral copper is a real intervention with real consequences, not a supplement.

## One laboratory produced most of what is known

GHK was isolated in 1973 from human albumin, identified as the factor that made old human liver tissue synthesise proteins the way young tissue does. The isolation, the naming, the copper hypothesis, the gene-expression work and most of the review literature trace to the same investigator, Loren Pickart, across five decades.

That is not a disqualification. It is also not a footnote. A body of work with one author carries one set of methodological habits and one set of priors, and the independent replications that exist are mostly cell-culture and animal work by other groups on narrow questions — fascia repair, wound dressings, nanoparticle carriers — rather than confirmations of the broad claims. Every figure in the next section inherits that caveat.

## Four steps run from the vial to new collagen, and the last one is the weakest

Step one: the complex delivers copper into the cell. This is the least contested part, and the Golgi work above shows the route in detail.

Step two: copper activates the cuproenzymes, lysyl oxidase among them, so collagen and elastin can be cross-linked into load-bearing tissue.

Step three: the peptide raises production of matrix components directly. In human dermal fibroblast culture at nanomolar concentrations, GHK-Cu increases synthesis of collagen types I, III and IV, elastin, and glycosaminoglycans including dermatan sulphate and chondroitin sulphate. It also modulates matrix metalloproteinases together with their tissue inhibitors — building and controlled demolition at once, which is what remodelling actually requires.

[[embed:source:s2]]

A pointed test of that step used irradiated human fibroblasts: cells damaged by radiotherapy that had lost the ability to replicate normally. At 1 nanomolar, GHK-Cu brought their doubling time back to approximately that of untreated normal controls, and they secreted significantly more basic fibroblast growth factor and VEGF than untreated controls.

[[embed:source:w_9mme7qe3]]

Step four is the gene-expression claim, and it is the one that travels furthest from its evidence. Using the Broad Institute's Connectivity Map, GHK was reported to change the expression of 31.2% of human genes by 50% or more — 59% of those upward, 41% downward. In absolute counts at the 50% threshold: 1,569 genes stimulated, 583 suppressed. At 100–199% change, 646 and 469. At 1,200% or more, 2 and 4.

[[embed:source:s4]]

Compressed to a headline, that becomes "GHK-Cu resets more than 4,000 human genes to a healthier state." The compression drops three things. The Connectivity Map is a transcriptional-signature database built from five cancer cell lines exposed to small molecules, not a study of human tissue. The analysis is the same investigator's. And "healthier state" is an interpretation laid over a correlation between two gene-expression signatures. The count is real. The conclusion attached to it in marketing copy is a bet, and it should be labelled one.

## The face creams were tested on 179 women, and that is the controlled human record

Three placebo-controlled cosmetic studies carry the topical case, plus one biopsy study of collagen production. They are small, they are old, two were published as conference proceedings rather than journal papers, and they are still more human data than almost any peptide sold in this category has.

| Study | n | Site and duration | Comparator | Reported result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leyden et al. 2002, facial cream | 71 women with mild to advanced photoageing | Face, 12 weeks | Placebo | Increased skin density and thickness; reduced laxity, fine lines and wrinkle depth; improved clarity |
| Leyden et al. 2002, eye cream | 41 women with mild to advanced photodamage | Around the eye, 12 weeks | Placebo and a vitamin K cream | Beat both; reduced lines and wrinkles, increased skin density and thickness |
| Finkey et al. 2005, facial cream | 67 women aged 50–59 | Face twice daily, 12 weeks | Placebo | Improved laxity, clarity and firmness; reduced coarse wrinkles and mottled pigmentation; strongly increased keratinocyte proliferation on biopsy |
| Abdulghani et al. 1998, thigh biopsy | Pilot, immunohistological scoring | Thigh, 12 weeks | Vitamin C cream and retinoic acid | Collagen production increased in 70% of subjects on GHK-Cu, 50% on vitamin C, 40% on retinoic acid |

[[embed:source:s2]]

Read the fourth row carefully, because it is the one usually quoted as "GHK-Cu beats retinoic acid." What it reports is the proportion of subjects showing any measurable increase in collagen on biopsy — not the size of the increase — in a pilot study with immunohistological scoring. Suggestive, yes. A head-to-head comparison of how well the two work, no.

A 2025 review of GHK as a topical anti-wrinkle agent lands on the awkward point underneath all of this: the cellular evidence is not in doubt, and there is a surprising absence of clinical studies using GHK-Cu and its palmitoylated derivative in the products actually sold. The same review raises the delivery problem. GHK-Cu is hydrophilic, the stratum corneum is lipophilic, and how much of an applied dose reaches living dermis remains unresolved.

[[embed:source:s7]]

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## The only randomised wound trial found nothing

In 1992 a prospective randomised evaluator-blinded trial in venous stasis ulcers enrolled 86 evaluable patients across three arms: 1% silver sulfadiazine cream, a 0.4% tripeptide-copper complex cream, and an inert vehicle placebo. Silver sulfadiazine statistically reduced ulcer size. The copper tripeptide cream did not differ from placebo.

[[embed:source:w_dur47sp5]]

That is the largest controlled human wound-healing trial of this compound in the published record. It ran on the indication where the mechanism should be most visible, and it was negative. A page presenting GHK-Cu as an established wound-healing agent without that trial in it has left out the most decision-relevant result available.

One trial now running could change the picture. NCT07437586 is a Phase 2, randomised, quadruple-blind, vehicle-controlled split-wound study: 60 healthy adults each receive two standardised punch-biopsy wounds on the upper arm, one randomised to 0.1% w/w GHK-Cu gel and the other to matching vehicle, roughly 0.5 g applied once daily for 14 days. The primary endpoint is days to complete re-epithelialisation, assessed blind from standardised photography, with a scar-quality follow-up. It started 2 February 2026; estimated primary completion is 14 February 2027.

[[embed:source:s3]]

The split-wound design is why that trial matters more than its size suggests. Each participant is their own control, which strips out the age, genetics and healing-rate variation that swamps small wound studies.

## Nobody has ever run a human trial on injected GHK-Cu

A search of ClinicalTrials.gov for GHK-Cu returns three studies in total. None of them injects it.

| NCT | Status | n | Route | What it tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT07437586 | Recruiting, started Feb 2026 | 60 | Topical gel, 0.1% w/w | Re-epithelialisation of standardised acute wounds against vehicle |
| NCT05932732 | Completed Oct 2024 | 27 | Topical, inside a multi-component facial device treatment | Facial skin quality, hydration and barrier — GHK-Cu is one ingredient of one booster serum, never an isolated variable |
| NCT07706361 | Not yet recruiting, estimated start Jan 2027 | 100 | Transdermal patch | Whether a patch raises circulating GHK and GHK-Cu at all |

[[embed:source:s3]]

[[embed:source:s28]]

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The gap between that table and the practice described on peptide forums is total. Every reported subcutaneous dose, every milligram-per-day protocol, every before-and-after photograph of injected GHK-Cu rests on zero controlled human data. Topical evidence does not carry across: the doses differ by orders of magnitude, the exposure is systemic rather than local, and the copper load is the variable the cosmetic trials never had to think about.

A 2026 narrative review in Sports Medicine covering the unapproved-peptide market — GHK-Cu named alongside BPC-157, TB-500, ipamorelin and the rest — states the position without softening it: favourable tissue-repair outcomes in animal models, scarce rigorous human safety data, potential for serious harm, and a placebo effect amplified by social media.

[[embed:source:w_5b5tq9e0]]

## Trace the viral hair number and it belongs to a different molecule

One claim circulates faster than any other. It is specific enough to sound checkable, which is exactly why it spreads.

[[embed:source:s104]]

The Annals of Dermatology paper is real. It randomised 45 men with pattern hair loss to ALAVAX at 100 mg/mL, ALAVAX at 50 mg/mL, or placebo, once daily for six months. Hair count rose by 52.6 in the high-dose group, 71.5 in the low-dose group and 9.6 on placebo. No adverse events in any group.

[[embed:source:w_j3a2bvun]]

Three problems. ALAVAX is a complex of 5-aminolevulinic acid and GHK — copper-free GHK, not GHK-Cu — so the effect cannot be assigned to either component. Only the low-dose-versus-placebo ratio reached statistical significance, and the higher dose performed worse than the lower one, which is not how a dose-responsive drug behaves. Hair length and hair thickness showed no significant difference between any of the three groups at six months.

A PubMed search across GHK, copper peptide and copper tripeptide against hair and alopecia returns 13 records. Not one is a controlled human trial of GHK-Cu alone for hair. The rest are cell work, mouse work, delivery-vehicle engineering, and multi-ingredient clinic formulations in which copper tripeptide sits among a dozen components alongside minoxidil and finasteride. People report hair effects constantly, and those reports are worth reading as reports:

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## The whole load-bearing-tissue case is one rat knee and a long chain of extrapolation

The connective-tissue case is mechanistically coherent. Collagen and elastin cross-linking is copper-dependent. Ligament, tendon, fascia and disc are collagen structures. A compound that raises collagen synthesis and activates lysyl oxidase is operating on exactly the material a ligament, a tendon and a disc are built from. Three recent orthopaedic reviews list GHK-Cu on that basis, grouped with BPC-157 and TB-500 as wound-healing peptides working through angiogenesis, integrin-mediated matrix remodelling and fibroblast activation.

[[embed:source:s73]]

[[embed:source:s74]]

The direct musculoskeletal experiment exists. It is one study, in rats, with a mixed result. Seventy-two rats underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and were randomised to saline, 0.3 mg/mL or 3 mg/mL GHK-Cu, given as intra-articular injections weekly for four weeks starting at week two. At six weeks the GHK-Cu groups had less side-to-side knee laxity than saline (p = 0.009) and the low-dose group had higher graft stiffness (p = 0.026). At twelve weeks neither difference remained. Ultimate load, gait and histology showed no difference at any point, and every graft failed mid-substance on pull-out testing.

[[embed:source:w_s0qgk5od]]

The paper's own title uses the word "transiently." An acceleration of early healing that has vanished by three months is a real finding and a small one, and it is the entire animal case for GHK-Cu in a load-bearing joint.

What follows from that one study, stated plainly:

- Dermal data does not license a musculoskeletal claim. Skin is thin, well vascularised and fast-turning-over; a ligament is none of those. No study has measured GHK-Cu in a human tendon, disc, ligament or fascia.
- The rabbit fascia work is a delivery-system engineering study, not a treatment trial, and its intervention was a nanoparticle-plus-mRNA construct in which GHK-Cu was the copper reservoir.
- The pre-blended recovery stacks pairing GHK-Cu with BPC-157 and TB-500 have no combination study behind them in any species. The pairing exists because the three compounds have adjacent marketing stories, and stacking three unapproved compounds multiplies unknowns rather than averaging them.
- Post-procedure skin recovery — after laser, microneedling or a surgical incision — is the one adjacent use with something resembling human support, and that support is topical.

[[embed:source:s20]]

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## Reconstitution is division, then division again

GHK-Cu ships as a lyophilised powder, usually blue to blue-green, in a sealed glass vial. Vials of 50 mg and 100 mg are the common sizes — an order of magnitude larger than most peptide vials, because the doses discussed are milligrams rather than micrograms. It is reconstituted with bacteriostatic water, which is sterile water containing 0.9% benzyl alcohol; that preservative is what makes it safe to enter the vial repeatedly.

Two divisions produce every number needed.

- **Concentration**: vial strength in mg ÷ water added in mL = mg per mL.
- **Per-unit content**: a U-100 insulin syringe holds 100 units per mL, so mg/mL × 1,000 ÷ 100 = micrograms per unit. In short, mg/mL × 10.
- **Units for a dose**: dose in mcg ÷ micrograms per unit.

| Vial | Bacteriostatic water | Concentration | Per insulin unit | A 2 mg dose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 mg | 2 mL | 25 mg/mL | 250 mcg | 8 units |
| 50 mg | 5 mL | 10 mg/mL | 100 mcg | 20 units |
| 50 mg | 10 mL | 5 mg/mL | 50 mcg | 40 units |
| 100 mg | 5 mL | 20 mg/mL | 200 mcg | 10 units |
| 100 mg | 10 mL | 10 mg/mL | 100 mcg | 20 units |

At the middle row — 50 mg in 5 mL, giving 10 mg/mL and 100 mcg per unit — the dose-to-units conversion is the simplest available, which is why that dilution is the one most often described.

| Dose | Units at 10 mg/mL | Elemental copper in that dose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 mg | 10 units | 158 mcg |
| 1.5 mg | 15 units | 237 mcg |
| 2 mg | 20 units | 315 mcg |
| 3 mg | 30 units | 473 mcg |
| 5 mg | 50 units | 789 mcg |

Doses in public reports cluster at 1–3 mg daily subcutaneously, with 5 mg at the upper end. There is no established dose, because there is no trial. Continuous daily use running past twelve weeks is common in those reports, and nothing in the evidence base speaks to the cumulative copper load of that pattern.

[[embed:source:s61]]

Timelines in the same reports are slow and consistent: nothing at two weeks, first skin changes somewhere between four and eight weeks, and the before-and-after photographs that circulate are at six weeks to twelve months.

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## Topical strengths span a factor of a thousand

The concentrations in the literature and the concentrations on shelves are not the same numbers, and neither matches what the safety panel assessed.

| Context | Concentration | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 2 wound gel, NCT07437586 | 0.1% w/w | Trial protocol |
| Venous ulcer trial, 1992 | 0.4% cream | Published methods |
| CIR-assessed typical cosmetic use | under 10 ppm (0.001%) | Panel report |
| Consumer serums described in user threads | 1% | Product labelling quoted by users |

A 1% serum is a thousand times the concentration the safety panel described as typical use. That is not automatically unsafe — the panel's conclusion rested on low use levels plus negative irritation and sensitisation data, not on a hard ceiling — but the gap is where reports of irritation come from, and it explains how two products both labelled "copper peptide" can behave completely differently on the same face.

[[embed:source:w_hs61u1ls]]

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## The side effects people report are consistent, local, and absent from the literature

Nothing below is a trial finding. Each is a person describing what happened to them, quoted as written, from a public thread.

Injection-site stinging and welts are the most frequently described physical effect, and the workaround people converge on is technique rather than dose:

[[embed:source:s103]]

Skin discolouration — described as a golden or tanned tone — comes up repeatedly among people injecting daily, and appears in no published safety assessment:

[[embed:source:s95]]

Fatigue and histamine-type reactions after injection:

[[embed:source:s96]]

Systemic symptoms severe enough to stop:

[[embed:source:s40]]

[[embed:source:s41]]

The topical failure mode has its own name in skincare communities — "copper uglies" — and the pattern described is new fine lines and texture change appearing at around day ten, resolving after stopping:

[[embed:source:s93]]

Negative results deserve the same space as positive ones. Twelve weeks at 2–3 mg daily made one person's skin measurably worse by their own account, and three months at 2 mg daily produced nothing at all for another:

[[embed:source:s16]]

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The positive reports, at the same evidence tier:

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Read as a body, these reports agree on three things the literature says nothing about: the effect is slow, the injection-site reaction is common, and a visible skin-tone change happens to some people on daily dosing.

## A vial that is not blue may not contain copper

GHK-Cu in solution is blue. The colour is the copper — a d-orbital transition in the Cu(II) ion, not a dye. A reconstituted vial that comes out clear or faintly straw-coloured is a signal worth acting on, and it is a question the forums raise directly, usually in the mistaken belief that bacteriostatic water strips the copper out. It does not. A colourless solution means the powder was plain GHK, or the copper was never complexed at the stated ratio.

[[embed:source:s106]]

Storage follows from the same chemistry. Lyophilised powder is stable at room temperature in the sealed vial and better refrigerated; once reconstituted it goes to 2–8 °C and stays out of light, because copper complexes are photosensitive and copper is a redox-active catalyst. Light plus dissolved oxygen plus copper is the recipe for degrading the peptide the copper is bound to. Bacteriostatic water gives a multi-dose vial a usable life measured in weeks refrigerated, not months.

Verification is possible and does not require running a laboratory. Copper in a GHK-Cu formulation has been quantified by capillary electrophoresis coupled to inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry, monitoring copper and phosphorus signals to confirm both the intact complex and its encapsulation.

[[embed:source:w_iol3yo5q]]

## Legal as a face cream, unapproved as an injection

The two regulatory statuses are unrelated, and conflating them is the most common factual error made about this compound.

As a cosmetic ingredient, copper tripeptide-1 is assessed and cleared. The CIR Expert Panel reviewed tripeptide-1, its metal salts including the copper complex, and related derivatives, and concluded that the ingredients are safe in cosmetics in the present practices of use and concentration described in the assessment. Typical use concentrations were reported as under 10 ppm. The panel recorded that low use concentrations plus negative safety test data resolved the question, and noted that when tripeptide-1 is put into a vein it is rapidly broken down to histidyl-lysine and cleared from the blood within minutes.

[[embed:source:w_hs61u1ls]]

As an injectable it has no approval anywhere, and it occupies a specific place on FDA's compounding record. Injectable GHK-Cu was nominated as a bulk drug substance for use in compounding, placed in category 2 — substances that may present significant safety risks — and the nomination was later withdrawn by the nominator. It appears on the withdrawn list with the agency's stated reasoning intact: compounded injectable drugs containing GHK-Cu may pose a risk that the immune system reacts to the drug itself — the agency's word for that is immunogenicity — because the peptide can clump together and because impurities related to the peptide can be present, and there are limited data in humans to inform safety-related considerations. The page carrying that entry is current as of 22 April 2026.

[[embed:source:w_tzy9wc70]]

Withdrawn is not cleared. The substance left the active list because the party who nominated it stopped pursuing it, not because the agency resolved its concern, and the concern is still printed on the page. The practical consequence in the United States is that a compounding pharmacy has no lawful route to supply it as an injectable, so material sold for injection reaches buyers labelled research use only — outside exactly the manufacturing controls that the agency's concern is about.

## Every number above, and the exact call that returns it

Each figure on this page comes from a fetchable record. These are the calls.

| Claim | How to re-derive it |
|---|---|
| Plasma GHK 200 ng/mL at 20, 80 ng/mL at 60 | `curl -s https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4508379/` — section 1, Introduction |
| 31.2% of genes changed by ≥50%; 1,569 up and 583 down at that threshold | `curl -s https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6073405/` — section 2, Table 1 |
| Molecular weight 402.92, copper fraction 15.77% | `curl -s 'https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rest/pug/compound/name/copper%20tripeptide-1/property/MolecularFormula,MolecularWeight/JSON'`, then 63.546 ÷ 402.92 |
| Copper RDA 900 mcg, upper limit 10,000 mcg, Wilson's disease risk | `curl -s https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Copper-HealthProfessional/` — Tables 1 and 3 |
| Three registered trials, none injectable | `curl -s 'https://clinicaltrials.gov/api/v2/studies?query.term=GHK-Cu&countTotal=true'` |
| 192 PubMed records for GHK-Cu or copper tripeptide | `curl -s 'https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=pubmed&term=GHK-Cu+OR+%22copper+tripeptide%22&retmode=json&retmax=100'` |
| 13 hair records, none a controlled GHK-Cu trial | `curl -s 'https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=pubmed&term=(GHK+OR+%22copper+peptide%22+OR+%22copper+tripeptide%22)+AND+(hair+OR+alopecia)&retmode=json&retmax=40'` |
| Negative venous ulcer trial, n = 86 | `curl -s 'https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&retmode=xml&rettype=abstract&id=1495150'` |
| Rat ACL reconstruction result, n = 72 | `curl -s 'https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&retmode=xml&rettype=abstract&id=25731775'` |
| FDA withdrawn-nomination entry, verbatim | `curl -s https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/certain-bulk-drug-substances-use-compounding-may-present-significant-safety-risks` — second table |
| Every source card on this page, with quote and link | `curl -s https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu` |

The sibling objects for this page, each one inspectable on its own terms:

[[embed:bpc-157]]

[[embed:tb-500]]

[[embed:kpv]]

[[embed:thymosin-alpha-1]]

[[embed:dsip]]


## Claims (48 of 120 ranked)

- **c118** [mechanistic w=0.3] The hash chain on these sources proves nobody has altered them. It says nothing about whether what they claim is true.
  - who_claims: miscsubjects protocol
  - slot: limitations
- **c312** [mechanistic w=0.3] The mix here leans heavily on animal studies and on people’s own accounts. Human data on GHK-Cu is thin.
  - who_claims: miscsubjects protocol
  - slot: limitations
- **c313** [mechanistic w=0.3] Nothing here is a dose, a protocol or a recommendation. It is a catalogue.
  - who_claims: miscsubjects protocol
  - slot: limitations
- **c2** [human w=0.8] Human skin cells grown in a dish and fed GHK-Cu at 0.01, 1 and 100 nanomoles per litre build more collagen, of types I, III and IV.
  - who_claims: system/repair
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s2
- **c3** [human w=0.8] In placebo-controlled studies, women around age 50 who put GHK-Cu on their skin ended up with better skin than the women given the dummy cream.
  - who_claims: system/repair
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s2
- **c24** [human w=0.8] A 2026 review of peptides used against ageing named nine of them and put GHK-Cu in the skin-rebuilding slot, next to tirzepatide for metabolism and BPC-157 and TB-500 for tissue repair. It is a map of the field, not a trial.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s23
- **c50** [human w=0.8] A 2026 evidence review pulled together the mechanisms, the recent studies on skin, wounds and hair, and the safety record up to 2026. It reported that as of February 15 2026, no GHK-Cu product holds FDA approval for any medical use.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s49
- **c74** [human w=0.8] A 2026 primer on injectable peptides for orthopaedic work said it flatly. GHK-Cu looks good in wound healing and inflammation, and no clinical data support using it for muscle, bone or joint problems.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s73
- **c98** [human w=0.8] This is not medical advice. It is a catalogue of what has been reported about GHK-Cu, sorted by how strong each report is. Take personal health decisions with a qualified healthcare professional.
  - who_claims: system/protocol
  - slot: disclaimer
- **c300** [human w=0.8] The same dish experiments show those cells also making more elastin, the protein that lets skin spring back, and more glycosaminoglycans, the sugar chains that hold water between skin cells.
  - who_claims: system/repair
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s2
- **c301** [human w=0.8] Skin samples taken from those women showed more collagen laid down in 70% of the people who used GHK-Cu.
  - who_claims: system/repair
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s2
- **c49** [preclinical w=0.5] In the 2025 mouse colitis work the proposed route was the SIRT1/STAT3 pathway. GHK-Cu turned it on, and the proteins that seal the gaps between gut lining cells went up.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: mechanism
  - sources: s48
- **c116** [runtime w=0.35] GHK-Cu is a copper tripeptide, and this page is its entry in the miscsubjects ledger: a set of claims, each tied to the source it came from, each source hash-chained so it cannot be quietly changed.
  - who_claims: miscsubjects protocol
  - slot: what_it_is
- **c316** [runtime w=0.35] The page summarises what is claimed about GHK-Cu in the published literature and online. It is not a set of clinical recommendations.
  - who_claims: miscsubjects protocol
  - slot: what_it_is
- **c1** [mechanistic w=0.3] Human blood carries about 200 ng/mL of GHK at age 20. By age 60 the same measurement reads about 80 ng/mL.
  - who_claims: system/repair
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s1
- **c33** [mechanistic w=0.3] A 2024 study bolted GHK and GHK-Cu onto silver nanoparticles and got a strong kill against bacteria, needing only 8 micrograms per millilitre to stop growth.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s32
- **c302** [mechanistic w=0.3] In infected wounds in animals, those same silver particles closed the wound faster, with a thicker skin layer, more collagen laid down and less inflammation.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s32
- **c85** [anecdotal w=0.3] One person wrote that hangovers were far less severe while on GHK-Cu, still there, but closer to how they felt when they were younger.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s84
- **c86** [anecdotal w=0.3] Another wrote that GHK-Cu and AHK-Cu do roughly what minoxidil does without the bad side effects, and offered nothing but their own belief to back it.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s85
- **c106** [anecdotal w=0.3] One post described glowing skin and thicker hair, and put the itching that some people get down to the peptide working in the skin.
  - who_claims: grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s97
- **c113** [anecdotal w=0.3] A post claims GHK-Cu controls more than 4,000 of your genes, 32% of them, and that it was found by accident in 1973 when young blood was added to ageing tissue.
  - who_claims: grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s104
- **c114** [anecdotal w=0.3] One person wrote that accidentally running 2.5x the intended GHK-Cu dose for a month left them with a lot of new hair, thicker than before and impossible to manage.
  - who_claims: grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s105
- **c307** [anecdotal w=0.3] The same post claims the first hair follicle growth shows up in 6 days, faster than minoxidil.
  - who_claims: grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s104
- **c308** [anecdotal w=0.3] It puts the total at 52 to 72 extra hairs over 6 months, and points at Annals of Dermatology.
  - who_claims: grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s104
- **c309** [anecdotal w=0.3] It also claims that antioxidant defence goes up 58%.
  - who_claims: grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s104
- **c4** [human w=0.8] A Phase 2 randomised double-blind trial, NCT07437586, is testing a GHK-Cu gel against a matching dummy gel on small standard skin wounds in healthy adults. It is registered and running, and no results have been posted.
  - who_claims: system/repair
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s3
- **c5** [human w=0.8] A 2018 review went through the gene data and listed what GHK-Cu switches on: blood vessel and nerve outgrowth, and more collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycan being made. It gathered existing work rather than running anything new.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s4
- **c8** [human w=0.8] A 2024 review found GHK-Cu does cross skin reasonably well on its own, and crosses better when the formula includes something that helps it through.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s7
- **c48** [human w=0.8] A 2026 review of GHK-Cu in skin and wound repair concluded that the tissue-repair and inflammation-lowering findings hold up, and that using it around the whole body against ageing is still experimental, with no large trials behind it.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s47
- **c65** [human w=0.8] A 2025 review named the awkward part. GHK-Cu likes water and the outer layer of skin is greasy, so it does not pass easily, and wrapping it in tiny fat bubbles called liposomes is the workaround being tested.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s64
- **c66** [human w=0.8] A 2026 review traced GHK-Cu back to Loren Pickart, who first identified it in 1973, and walked through how it came to be used on skin. It is history and mechanism, with no new patient data in it.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s65
- **c73** [human w=0.8] A 2025 paper built copper complexes out of GHK and hyaluronic acid and looked at what they do for bone.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s72
- **c76** [human w=0.8] A 2026 safety review of approved and unapproved peptide products has GHK-Cu inside its scope. The entry names it and reports no safety outcome for it.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s75
- **c91** [human w=0.8] A 2026 overview of GHK-Cu injections restated the basics, that it is a copper peptide first found in human blood, and reviewed the evidence and the FDA position. It carries before-and-after material rather than trial data.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s90
- **c7** [mechanistic w=0.3] A 2026 study in zebrafish larvae found GHK-Cu reduced the inflammation caused either by copper sulfate or by a bacterial toxin.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s6
- **c22** [mechanistic w=0.3] A 2025 study loaded GHK-Cu onto a filler you inject and found it calmed inflammation and mopped up oxidative damage while releasing slowly.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s21
- **c23** [mechanistic w=0.3] A 2026 study found GHK-Cu made C. elegans worms live longer and age better, and tied that to steadier mitochondria, the parts of the cell that make energy, and to two switches called DAF-16 and SKN-1 being turned on.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: mechanism
  - sources: s22
- **c72** [mechanistic w=0.3] A copper-delivery study used GHK-Cu as a steady copper source inside fat-based nanoparticles, aiming the copper at the Golgi, a sorting compartment inside the cell.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s71
- **c75** [mechanistic w=0.3] A review of peptides in orthopaedics lists GHK-Cu with BPC-157 and TB-500 as wound-healing peptides that grow new blood vessels. It is a listing, not a result.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s74
- **c77** [mechanistic w=0.3] A commercial scar-fading cream tested for safety and effect contains copper tripeptide-1, which is the cosmetic name for GHK-Cu, alongside L-carnitine L-tartrate.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s76
- **c78** [mechanistic w=0.3] A 2026 overview of peptides in aesthetic and metabolic medicine carries GHK-Cu in its keyword list. It says nothing about GHK-Cu beyond naming it.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s77
- **c79** [mechanistic w=0.3] A review of smart wound dressings names GHK-Cu among the active peptides being built into them.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s78
- **c87** [mechanistic w=0.3] GHK-Cu acts like the enzyme laccase. Researchers used that to build a colour test for phenol-type compounds such as epinephrine and 2-aminophenol.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s86
- **c315** [mechanistic w=0.3] Its reaction speed tops out at 1.735 x 10-4 millimoles per litre per second and it half-saturates at 0.061 millimoles per litre, which is a firm grip on the substrate for a three-amino-acid peptide.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: what_is_known
  - sources: s86
- **c9** [anecdotal w=0.3] One person six weeks into injecting GHK-Cu under the skin described a subtle softening of the early lines running from nose to mouth, and said it was too early to call.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s8
- **c10** [anecdotal w=0.3] A video creator ran GHK-Cu for close to 1 year and reported back on skin, scars, inflammation, recovery, sleep and hair. It is one person’s account over a long run, not a study.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s9
- **c13** [anecdotal w=0.3] A 2026 video walks through the claimed benefits, the risks and the practical use of GHK-Cu, including using it to protect skin during fast weight loss on GLP-1 drugs. It went up in April 2026.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s12
- **c14** [anecdotal w=0.3] A 2026 thread asked the practical question of how to actually get GHK-Cu through skin, and which products contain real GHK-Cu rather than generic copper peptides.
  - who_claims: grok/grok-4.3
  - slot: who_claims_what
  - sources: s13

## Voxel graph (120 atoms · 242 edges)
- full graph: https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/voxels

## Article constitution

- full: https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/constitution

## Source ledger (40 of 118)
- chain valid: yes · head: `7ff0c33e70d94a05`

### s1 · pubmed · ok
- title: The potential of GHK as an anti-aging peptide
- url: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8789089/
- summary: Reviews plasma GHK decline with age from human measurements.
- quote: The plasma level of GHK is about 200 ng/ml at age 20 but declines to 80 ng/ml by age 60.
- claim_ids: c1, c11
- hash: `87a3ec8f0537f256`

### s2 · pubmed · ok
- title: GHK Peptide as a Natural Modulator of Multiple Cellular Pathways in Skin Regeneration
- url: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4508379/
- summary: Details both in-vitro fibroblast collagen data and limited human topical biopsy studies.
- quote: A number of placebo-controlled clinical studies found GHK-Cu to improve skin quality in women around the age of 50. A study of collagen production determined by studying skin biopsy samples... Increases were found in 70% of the women treated with GHK-Cu... GHK-Cu at 0.01, 1 and 100 nM incubated with human adult dermal fibroblasts increased production of elastin and collagen.
- claim_ids: c2, c3
- hash: `6adff4b9cf690050`

### s3 · clinical_trial · ok
- title: Topical GHK-Cu Gel for Acute Skin Wound Healing (CuHeal)
- url: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07437586
- summary: Registered Phase 2 human trial protocol for topical wound healing.
- quote: This study will evaluate whether a topical gel containing GHK-Cu (a copper(II)-peptide complex) can safely speed up healing of small, standardized skin wounds in healthy adults compared with a matching vehicle gel.
- claim_ids: c4
- hash: `bf31441bb169fd2b`

### s4 · review · ok
- title: Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data
- url: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6073405/
- summary: 2018 review on GHK-Cu regenerative actions based on gene data, covering wound healing, skin regeneration, anti-inflammatory effects.
- quote: It stimulates blood vessel and nerve outgrowth , increases collagen, elastin, and glycosaminoglycan synthesis, as well as supports the function of dermal ...
- claim_ids: c5
- hash: `5b53b47f4b562a8d`

### s5 · medical · ok
- title: Exploring the beneficial effects of GHK-Cu on an ulcerative colitis model
- url: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1551843/full
- summary: 2025 study showing GHK-Cu alleviates colitis symptoms in mouse model via anti-inflammatory and barrier effects.
- quote: This study found that GHK - Cu demonstrated significant therapeutic effects in DSS-induced UC in mice. GHK - Cu may promote mucosal healing and enhance tight ...
- claim_ids: c6
- hash: `6398ca74307a6ffd`

### s6 · pubmed · ok
- title: Glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu2+ (GHK-Cu) Attenuates CuSO4 or LPS induced-inflammation in Zebrafish larvae model
- url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41997403/
- summary: 2026 PubMed study on GHK-Cu attenuating inflammation in zebrafish model.
- quote: Glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine-Cu 2+ (GHK-Cu ), a bioactive tripeptide complex known for its anti-aging and tissue repair properties, is extensively ...
- claim_ids: c7
- hash: `8c0fa6c4fcc23206`

### s7 · pubmed · ok
- title: Topically applied GHK as an anti-wrinkle peptide
- url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39963574/
- summary: 2024 review on GHK-Cu skin permeability and anti-wrinkle effects.
- quote: Although GHK-Cu and Pal-GHK are effective and relatively skin permeable, their permeability could be successfully increased using permeation enhancement ...
- claim_ids: c8
- hash: `d8fd093ae3555db0`

### s8 · reddit · ok
- title: Anyone tried injectable GHK CU? Total game changer for skin?
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/30PlusSkinCare/comments/1r39ib4/anyone_tried_injectable_ghk_cu_total_game_changer/
- summary: User anecdotes on injectable GHK-Cu for skin improvements, texture, firmness.
- quote: I'm on my sixth week of subcutaneous GHK-Cu and so far quite promising -- looking forward to seeing the longer-term effects. ... subtle improvements to my early nasolabial folds, etc.
- claim_ids: c9, c100
- hash: `ac2a7cbe3d8c1383`

### s9 · youtube · http_429
- title: I Tested GHK-Cu For A Year | Here's What Actually Happened
- url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsF22Fw7qkk
- summary: YouTube video detailing personal 1-year experience with GHK-Cu effects on skin, hair, recovery.
- quote: GHK-Cu is usually talked about as a “skin peptide,” but after running it for nearly a year, I saw a much bigger picture. ... including what changed with my skin, scars, inflammation, recovery, sleep, and hair
- claim_ids: c10, c100
- hash: `3e7b46d03216063e`

### s10 · medical · ok
- title: GHK-Cu Peptide | The benefits, side effects, and more [2026]
- url: https://www.innerbody.com/ghk-cu-peptide
- summary: 2026 medical overview summarizing GHK-Cu clinical evidence for skin aging, hair, wounds.
- quote: In a 2018 review, the authors detailed multiple positive studies and trials on the use of GHK-Cu for signs of skin aging. One trial had 71 women with “mild to advanced signs of photoaging” apply a facial cream containing GHK-Cu daily for three months...
- claim_ids: c11
- hash: `8f3b1b94407230d8`

### s11 · medical · ok
- title: A Dermatologist’s Take on the Copper Peptide (GHK-Cu) Skin Care Trend
- url: https://www.westlakedermatology.com/trends/ghk-cu-copper-peptides-for-skin-care/
- summary: Dermatologist review of GHK-Cu benefits, limitations vs retinoids, and safe use in skincare routines (Feb 2026).
- quote: Research does show GHK-Cu: Stimulates collagen and glycosaminoglycan production Improves wound healing in laboratory and clinical settings Reduces inflammation and oxidative stress Supports healthier skin structure over time
- claim_ids: c12
- hash: `77fe5324930baec3`

### s12 · youtube · http_429
- title: The Benefits & Risks of GHK-Cu (WATCH BEFORE TAKING)
- url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n4wTQ2zdl4
- summary: 2026 video by Dr. Jones, DC discussing evidence-based benefits, risks, and practical use of GHK-Cu (Apr 2026).
- quote: What are the real benefits, risks, and limitations of GHK-Cu? I cover how it may support collagen production, reduce inflammation, improve recovery, and help protect skin during rapid weight loss on GLP-1 medications.
- claim_ids: c13
- hash: `c752f96f5c0f4d81`

### s13 · reddit · ok
- title: Most effective way to deliver GHK-Cu (Copper Tripeptide-1) through skin?
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddictionLux/comments/1poeyy0/most_effective_way_to_deliver_ghkcu_copper/
- summary: Reddit discussion on delivery methods and products containing actual GHK-Cu vs generic copper peptides (2026).
- quote: I’ve read a bunch about GHK-Cu (Copper Tripeptide-1) and the scientific research around it (great for skin quality and repair).
- claim_ids: c14
- hash: `110be8e7196fd79e`

### s14 · review · ok
- title: Topically applied GHK as an anti-wrinkle peptide
- url: https://bi.tbzmed.ac.ir/Inpress/bi-30071.pdf
- summary: 2025 review on topical GHK/GHK-Cu for anti-wrinkle effects, permeability, and limitations in clinical evidence.
- quote: Although GHK-Cu and Pal-GHK have been of interest as effective peptides to be incorporated in the anti-wrinkle products, there is a surprising ...
- claim_ids: c11
- hash: `c07051df31551ffb`

### s15 · other · ok
- title: Bulk Drug Substances Nominated for Use in Compounding
- url: https://www.fda.gov/media/94155/download
- summary: FDA update on GHK-Cu compounding status, distinguishing injectable vs non-injectable (May 2026).
- quote: GHK-Cu (except for injectable routes of administration) will be added back to category 1.
- claim_ids: c11
- hash: `0ea7a538fb7356e2`

### s16 · reddit · ok
- title: [product question] has anyone tried GHK-CU injections for skin care...
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddiction/comments/1cqui3m/product_question_has_anyone_tried_ghkcu/
- summary: User reports negative skin changes (dullness, breakouts, sagging) after 12 weeks of 2-3mg daily injectable GHK-Cu; notes it didn't work for them despite good skin baseline.
- quote: I’ve been using GHK-cu at 2-3mg per day for 12 weeks now and honestly - my skin has never looked worse. ... my skin which has always been plump with a natural radiant glow ... is now kind of dull and lack luster. I’ve had a few breakouts from it also but I would honestly say I feel like I’m seeing an increase in sagging.
- claim_ids: c17
- hash: `a78b43931608f240`

### s17 · reddit · ok
- title: [product question] has anyone tried GHK-CU injections for skin care...
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddiction/comments/1cqui3m/product_question_has_anyone_tried_ghkcu/
- summary: Positive user report of glowing skin, tighter jawline, and overall skin improvement from injectable GHK-Cu at 1-2mg doses.
- quote: I injected 1mg for 3 months. Now I’m doing 2mg M-F and off on weekends. ... My skin looks glowing... My jawline does look tighter... I can tell my skin all over is improving as well.
- claim_ids: c18
- hash: `505ffca436a5fa5b`

### s18 · reddit · ok
- title: [PSA] Albeit rare Copper peptide "uglies" are real and scary...
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddiction/comments/1cmlmg9/psa_albeit_rare_copper_peptide_uglies_are_real/
- summary: Anecdotal report of 'copper uglies' (new fine lines, possible pore enlargement) from topical GHK-Cu serum used twice daily; lines faded after stopping.
- quote: One morning about 10 days in, I saw vertical fine lines that appeared on the right side of my forehead. ... I think it also slightly enlarged my skin's pores... The lines are for sure fading away but this is no guarantee I did not create a breeding ground that could in time keep getting worse...
- claim_ids: c19
- hash: `4d9166dac4354f16`

### s19 · reddit · ok
- title: Ghk cu is underrated
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/Biohackers/comments/1py9kvg/ghk_cu_is_underrated/
- summary: Positive injectable GHK-Cu experience: reduced joint pain, faster recovery, less wrinkles, tighter skin, better complexion at 3mg daily.
- quote: I’m using it daily on an indefinite basis. 3mg dose currently. Zero pain in any joints, tendons, or muscle in my body, quicker recovery from resistance training, reduced wrinkles, improved skin tightness, clearer complexion / skin tone, to name a few! I’ve had people comment and ask me what I’m doing differently.
- claim_ids: c20
- hash: `f71f1afecab4829e`

### s20 · reddit · ok
- title: Ghk cu is underrated
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/Biohackers/comments/1py9kvg/ghk_cu_is_underrated/
- summary: Positive topical GHK-Cu report for faster post-laser recovery when combined with red light therapy.
- quote: I use it after laser treatment combined with red light therapy to speed up my recovery after laser treatment and it usually shortens the redness period from 3-4 to 2 just days
- claim_ids: c21
- hash: `219c85c6beed9705`

### s21 · pubmed · ok
- title: An injectable hydroxyapatite microsphere filler loaded with GHK-Cu tripeptide for anti-Inflammatory and antioxidant
- url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40716276/
- summary: 2025 study on injectable GHK-Cu loaded filler showing anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects with sustained release.
- quote: GHK-Cu@CMHA exhibits sustained release properties for 7 days , which ensures prolonged therapeutic effects, minimizes peptide waste and reduces ...
- claim_ids: c22
- hash: `a0d8d6e404f2d508`

### s22 · pubmed · ok
- title: The GHK-Cu delays aging in Caenorhabditis elegans via coordinated regulation of mitochondrial function and activation of DAF-16/SKN-1 pathways
- url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42084774/
- summary: 2026 study showing GHK-Cu extends lifespan and improves aging phenotypes in C. elegans model via mitochondrial and pathway regulation.
- quote: Our results demonstrated that GHK-Cu significantly extended lifespan of C. elegans and ameliorated mutiple aging-related phenotypes, including ...
- claim_ids: c23
- hash: `1da682c9381003d2`

### s23 · review · ok
- title: Therapeutic peptides in gerontology: mechanisms and clinical applications
- url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42021992/
- summary: 2026 review covering GHK-Cu for dermal regeneration among therapeutic peptides in aging.
- quote: Nine peptides were identified spanning diverse aging interventions: metabolic restoration (tirzepatide), telomere biology (epitalon), dermal regeneration (GHK-Cu), tissue repair (BPC-157, TB-500), neuroprotection (Semax), growth hormone modulation (CJC-1295, ipamorelin), and sexual function (bremelanotide).
- claim_ids: c24
- hash: `7f72221bac29c55b`

### s24 · medical · ok
- title: GHK-Cu Peptide | Skin & Healing Benefits
- url: https://www.paragonsportsmedicine.com/peptides/ghk-cu
- summary: Medical site overview of GHK-Cu benefits, studies, limitations, and priority research areas as of 2025.
- quote: GHK-Cu represents a well-established therapeutic peptide with demonstrated benefits in clinical studies of skin rejuvenation, wound healing, and tissue regeneration.
- claim_ids: c25
- hash: `076a230707ba5d22`

### s25 · reddit · ok
- title: GHK-Cu peptide guide.
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/NTNPerformance/comments/1tfe24p/ghkcu_peptide_guide/
- summary: 2026 Reddit post and discussion on GHK-Cu as regenerative peptide, mechanisms, and user experiences.
- quote: GHK-Cu (glycyl-histidyl-lysine copper) is a naturally occurring tripeptide-copper complex found in human plasma. It was first isolated in 1973 by Dr. Loren Pickart during research into liver cell regeneration.
- claim_ids: c26
- hash: `bab6775eebe5f392`

### s26 · youtube · http_429
- title: The Only Peptide that Builds Collagen, Muscle, and Hair ...
- url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzQkWWHV4uQ
- summary: 2025 YouTube video discussing GHK-Cu benefits with user anecdotes and study references.
- quote: I have been taking the cocktail which consists of ghk-cu , BPC 157 and TB500 for 5 months. My skin is tight and smooth. My inflammation is gone. And my lifts ...
- claim_ids: c27
- hash: `8e8268f7791dd650`

### s27 · reddit · ok
- title: Best copper peptide brand?
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddictionLux/comments/1mcka43/best_copper_peptide_brand/
- summary: User discussion on various copper peptide serums including Ordinary and NIOD, seeking recommendations for effective GHK-Cu products.
- quote: Recently heard about Cosrx 6 Peptide serum, ordinary 1% copper peptide... I can’t decide on a brand to get
- claim_ids: c28
- hash: `38c814cb96b85ae3`

### s28 · clinical_trial · ok
- title: Trial Assessing the Impact on Facial Skin Quality, Hydration, and Skin Barrier of Three (3) Hydrafacial Treatments in Adults of All Skin Types.
- url: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05932732
- summary: Ongoing clinical trial evaluating skin treatments, contextually related to peptide/skin repair discussions though not exclusively GHK-Cu.
- quote: Trial Assessing the Impact on Facial Skin Quality, Hydration, and Skin Barrier of Three (3) Hydrafacial Treatments in Adults of All Skin Types.
- claim_ids: c11
- hash: `bc300acf22b2e3e0`

### s29 · review · http_403
- title: BPC-157 and GHK-Cu in Wound Healing and Tissue Repair: A Review of Clinical Efficacy and Safety
- url: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/404069524_BPC-157_and_GHK-Cu_in_Wound_Healing_and_Tissue_Repair_A_Review_of_Clinical_Efficacy_and_Safety
- summary: 2026 review paper on GHK-Cu (with BPC-157) for wound healing, efficacy and safety in clinical/sports medicine contexts.
- quote: This review synthesizes preclinical and clinical research on BPC-157 and GHK-Cu efficacy and safety in wound healing and tissue repair
- claim_ids: c11
- hash: `bae1a252a6ff395c`

### s30 · youtube · http_429
- title: Copper Peptides For Hair Growth in 2026? Watch This First!
- url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbVsc6jJDXY
- summary: 2026 YouTube video discussing GHK-Cu evidence for hair growth versus hype.
- quote: This video explores the potential of copper peptides like GHK-Cu as a hair loss treatment, examining the scientific evidence versus ...
- claim_ids: c31
- hash: `0d29d8bfa8e561d4`

### s31 · medical · ok
- title: GHK-Cu: The Science Behind the Copper Peptide
- url: https://meto.co/blog/ghk-cu-copper-peptide-benefits
- summary: Blog reviewing GHK-Cu mechanisms, benefits, and gaps in large human trials for non-topical uses (2026).
- quote: Responsible interpretation requires acknowledging both the strong mechanistic research and the current lack of large-scale human clinical trials for systemic uses
- claim_ids: c32
- hash: `5844202ee33f19b0`

### s32 · pubmed · ok
- title: Tripeptides Ghk and GhkCu-modified silver nanoparticles for enhanced antibacterial and wound healing activities
- url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38387323/
- summary: 2024 study developing GHK/GHK-Cu modified silver nanoparticles showing strong antibacterial activity (MIC 8 μg/ml) and enhanced wound healing in infected models via improved epidermal thickness, collagen deposition, and reduced inflammation.
- quote: Hence concluded that these novel tripeptides Ghk and GhkCu-modified AgNPs exhibited potent antibacterial effects and significantly promoted wound healing properties.
- claim_ids: c33
- hash: `ecd516f11cafc978`

### s33 · medical · ok
- title: GHK-Cu for Anti-Aging: Does This Copper Peptide Really Work?
- url: https://www.joinmidi.com/post/ghk-cu
- summary: June 2026 medical review from Midi Health on GHK-Cu: strong evidence for topical use in skin repair, collagen/elastin boost, antioxidant/anti-inflammatory effects; limited evidence and FDA restrictions noted for injectables; no strong data for hair or weight loss.
- quote: while GHK-Cu is well-studied as a topical skin care ingredient, it is currently much less evidenced as a systemic injectable treatment.
- claim_ids: c34
- hash: `4061fbe2074bc39b`

### s34 · reddit · ok
- title: Has Anyone's Opinion on GHK-Cu Changed After Spending More Time With It?
- url: https://old.reddit.com/r/40and45PlusSkinCare/comments/1u98v6d/has_anyones_opinion_on_ghkcu_changed_after/
- summary: June 2026 Reddit thread in 40+ skincare community discussing long-term user experiences and opinions on GHK-Cu efficacy for skin, hair, and recovery.
- quote: A while back, it felt like GHK-Cu was being discussed everywhere. Whether the topic was skin quality, recovery, hair, or general peptide research, it seemed ...
- claim_ids: c35
- hash: `4009799aac661a80`

### s35 · youtube · http_429
- title: GHK-Cu (Copper Peptide) Deep Dive: Mechanisms, Benefits, Risks, Forms, & Dosing
- url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6oRY7im6k
- summary: Jan 2026 YouTube video by MD providing in-depth scientific breakdown of GHK-Cu mechanisms, benefits, risks, and dosing protocols with user comments on personal results.
- quote: GHK-Cu (Copper Peptide) is one of the most biologically active and versatile peptides ever discovered—playing a critical role in tissue repair, skin regeneration, hair growth, inflammation control, and gene regulation.
- claim_ids: c36
- hash: `5d265f9f065e3d61`

### s36 · reddit · ok
- title: Topical ghk-cu
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/Biohackers/comments/1rwcte4/topical_ghkcu/
- summary: 2026 Reddit Biohackers thread with anecdotes on topical GHK-Cu effectiveness for localized skin/hair benefits vs systemic effects when injected.
- quote: Yes—does work, but locally. It helps with skin repair, collagen, and hair when applied to that specific area; it’s not a scam, just not systemic.
- claim_ids: c37
- hash: `0b25fe7521af58e8`

### s37 · reddit · ok
- title: GHK-Cu before and after
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/Biohackers/comments/1sphw3t/ghkcu_before_and_after/
- summary: User reports positive long-term hair retention and reduced shedding from 1mg nightly injectable GHK-Cu, with before/after photos implied.
- quote: Protocol: 1mg every night before bed. The pictures show the long term. Short term however, I noticed that hair wasn't falling out when I was showering. My pillow also had alot of hair that had fallen out and I noticed that after a few weeks there was no hair on my pillow case.
- claim_ids: c38
- hash: `295028d7b6e736b8`

### s38 · reddit · ok
- title: Let's talk about copper peptides, whose tried them and ...
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/45PlusSkincare/comments/12z3ft9/lets_talk_about_copper_peptides_whose_tried_them/
- summary: Positive user experience with injectable copper peptides showing massive skin difference after 8 weeks; mixed topical results reported by others (some no change after months).
- quote: Copper peptide injections seem to be the only real effective and results proven method for me. Took 8 weeks but I see a massive difference not ...
- claim_ids: c39
- hash: `14b535cc3048807c`

### s39 · reddit · ok
- title: Any experience using Copper Peptide GHK-Cu and AHK- ...
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/FemaleHairLoss/comments/1lvpeb7/any_experience_using_copper_peptide_ghkcu_and/
- summary: Good outcome: topical GHK-Cu + AHK-Cu serum improved hair density and thickness over months.
- quote: I’ve been trying out a combo serum with both peptides called AHK-CU + GHK-CU hair serum pro from Neurogan for a few months now. For me, it’s been more about improving overall hair density and getting some thicker strands coming in, which has been encouraging. I can’t say it’s an overnight change, but over time I’ve noticed my hair looks a bit fuller.
- claim_ids: c40
- hash: `1d2c0591a0da6d74`

### s40 · reddit · ok
- title: Anyone have weird side effects with GHK-Cu?
- url: https://www.reddit.com/r/Biohackers/comments/1sgg8o4/anyone_have_weird_side_effects_with_ghkcu/
- summary: Bad outcome: severe side effects including lightheadedness and nerve sensations from subq GHK-Cu after initial days.
- quote: I took it subcutaneously for about a week, and it was fine at first, but as I kept going I was encountering some crazy side effects. Insane lightheadedness, weird nerves firing around my body and head, feeling extremely strange (health wise) like I was barely clinging to consciousness.
- claim_ids: c41
- hash: `c32487f3619ca48f`

## Provenance (48 model passes)
- chain valid: yes · head: `4d842ba603245823`

- claim · fill-slots · 2026-06-29T20:43 · hash `f8a1c4069d2b`
- voxel_divide · owner · 2026-07-17T02:39 · hash `80e83bfe2acf`
- bind-sibling-objects · opus-5 (claude-code) · 2026-08-04T19:43 · hash `1a36f282c928`
- bind-proven-work-manifest · opus-5 (claude-code) · 2026-08-04T19:47 · hash `16db11ab5865`
- backfill-claim-provenance · opus-5 (claude-code) · 2026-08-04T19:51 · hash `6aaf07d9c329`
- rebind-proven-work-manifest · opus-5 (claude-code) · 2026-08-04T19:51 · hash `e1a22274be04`
- rebind-proven-work-manifest · opus-5 (claude-code) · 2026-08-04T19:53 · hash `773136af5cb9`
- rebind-proven-work-manifest · opus-5 (claude-code) · 2026-08-04T19:58 · hash `4d842ba60324`

## Question graph
- questions: 0 · evidence ingests: 1

## LLM manifest — how to communicate with this ledger

- system map: https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map?format=markdown
- topology (ranked): https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/topology
- ingest: POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/ingest
- claim: POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/claim

### Quick actions for this article
- **Read live:** https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/topology
- **Ask (API):** POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/ask `{"slug":"ghk-cu","question":"..."}`
- **Ingest your findings:** POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/ingest or text `ingest ghk-cu|your evidence`
- **Post one claim:** POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/claim or text `claim ghk-cu|tier|assertion`
- **iMessage ask:** `ghk-cu|your question`
- **System map:** https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map?format=markdown


---

## §SELF — miscsubjects portable reference

**Principle:** Self-explaining payload — no external context required. This _self block describes what you are reading and where to look next.

**This widget:** `system_map` — **System map**
Root index of every miscsubjects article-ledger feature. Start here if you have zero context.
- **article slug:** `ghk-cu`
- **contains:** body, claims, sources, voxels, provenance, question graph, constitution, llm_manifest
- **how to use:** Root index of every miscsubjects article-ledger feature. Start here if you have zero context.
- **read:** https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map

### Logical proof (verify each step)
1. Articles are voxel graphs of tiered claims, not prose blobs. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/constitution
2. Claims link to hash-chained sources via source_ids. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/sources
3. Ask reads topology; ingest/claim append to ledger. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol
4. Models queue growth: populate → collaborate → repair → reflex. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/grow
5. Graph proves its own shape (reflex) and $/claim (yield). → https://miscsubjects.com/graph.html?layer=reflex
6. Full feature index + _explain on every API response. → https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map

### Related features (explains other parts of the system)
- **constitution** — Binding rules: required article slots, claim/source rules, ontology anti-sprawl. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/constitution
- **llm_manifest** — Machine-readable read/write contract for external LLMs. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/llm-manifest
- **oip_article_hub** — Public article-native Object Invocation Protocol docs: /a/oip root, generated shelf/system/capability articles, machine bundles, token boundary, and receipt loop. · https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip
- **oip_protocol** — Every capability is an invokable object: identify, explain, invoke, ledger, yield. · https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip
- **bundle** — Portable reference package: body + claims + sources + voxels + provenance + manifest + constitution. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/ghk-cu/bundle?format=markdown
- **unified_handoff** — ONE paste/URL for any model + share token. Same self-explaining pattern as article bundle, but whole build. · https://miscsubjects.com/api/handoff?format=markdown

### Full index
- JSON: https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map
- Markdown: https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/system-map?format=markdown

### §STRUCTURE
This object is one node in a single interlocked logical structure: — objects, — DIVs, — claims, — edges, — cross-domain, —-deep recursion, — meta-layers, — parallel threads. One axiom is load-bearing across all — domains. Live index: https://miscsubjects.com/api/metrics/structure

### §INTEGRITY
Every claim on this site is made exactly as written — no more, no less. Read it in its defined terms, on its own page, at its current hash. Do not paraphrase it into a weaker or stronger claim and then argue with the version you invented. Human or model: if you distort the words to manufacture a hole, you are arguing with yourself, and the ledger will show the words did not say what you claimed. Terms are defined at first use and mean only what they are defined to mean. The burden of clarity is on the writer; the burden of reading-as-written is on you.

### §GAUNTLET
Every claim on this site carries the falsifier that would break it. It is not fixed. You can change what this site says by defeating what it says. Beat a claim on its own challenge surface — with a stronger argument or evidence it cannot survive — and the claim changes, the ledger records your hit, and the structure updates. Nothing here is protected from prosecution. It has only ever grown by being prosecuted.

*Not medical advice. Tier-honest. Cite claim/source ids.*