This is a working overview of melanotan-2, written for readers who want more than a one-paragraph summary but less than a textbook.
This page was last updated on 2025-10-29 and is reviewed periodically as new material appears.
Pharmacologically, melanotan-2 behaves as a non-selective agonist across the melanocortin receptor family. Binding at MC1R on dermal melanocytes promotes eumelanin synthesis, which underlies the tanning response described in early human work. Activity at the centrally expressed MC4R receptor is associated with reported effects on appetite and erectile function. Because the peptide does not discriminate strongly among receptor subtypes, attributing any single observed effect to one receptor pathway is generally not possible without selective antagonists or receptor knockout models.
Research interest has centred on photoprotection and pigmentation, with a smaller body of work on appetite and sexual function. Published human data remain limited to small, frequently uncontrolled studies, and the compound has never received marketing approval from a national medicines regulator. Most laboratory work treats it as a pharmacological tool for probing melanocortin signalling in cell culture or animal models. Whether pigmentation changes observed in people translate into measurable protection against ultraviolet-induced DNA damage remains an open question.
Early published reports described melanotan-2 as a tanning agent without sun protection, which means darkening is not the same as protection against ultraviolet radiation. Later studies explored the peptide in erectile dysfunction, hemorrhagic shock, and some skin conditions. No regulator in the United States or Europe has approved it for clinical use. Many products labelled melanotan-2 are sold without approval and their identity and purity are unverified. Its long-term safety in humans remains an open question.
Melanotan-2, also written Melanotan II, is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide designed as an analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. Its sequence is Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-NH2, and the lactam bridge between the aspartate and lysine side chains constrains the peptide into a ring. This structural change increases receptor affinity and metabolic stability relative to the native hormone. The compound was created in the 1980s as a research tool for studying pigmentation biology.
Melanocytes are the pigment-producing cells of the skin, and they carry melanocortin-1 receptors on their surface. When the receptor is activated, cyclic adenosine monophosphate rises inside the cell and raises the activity of enzymes such as tyrosinase, which increases melanin output. Melanotan-2 binds melanocortin-1 receptors in vitro and in animal models, and this binding is generally described as the basis for the tanning effect. Other receptors account for different effects: melanocortin-4 receptors contribute to appetite and erectile signalling, while melanocortin-3 and melanocortin-5 receptors contribute to energy balance and exocrine function.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Common synonyms | Melanotan II; MT-II; N-acetyl-norleucyl-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys] amide | Naming follows peptide convention; the numeral distinguishes it from melanotan-1 |
| Molecular formula | C50H69N15O9 | Includes the lactam bridge; no counter-ion assumed |
| Monoisotopic mass | 1023.53 Da | Free base; salts and counter-ions shift the observed value |
| Appearance | White to off-white lyophilised powder | Batch-to-batch colour variation is not itself proof of impurity |
| Typical analytical method | RP-HPLC purity determination with ESI-MS identity confirmation | Retention time alone does not establish sequence identity |
Receptor studies place melanotan-2 among non-selective melanocortin agonists, binding MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R rather than a single subtype. Activation of MC1R on cutaneous melanocytes raises tyrosinase activity and shifts pigment synthesis toward eumelanin, which is darker and more photostable than pheomelanin. Central receptors, particularly MC4R, are associated with appetite suppression and with reported effects on sexual function. Because subtype selectivity is low, the same molecule engages pigment, metabolic and vascular pathways at once, and this breadth is a common explanation offered for the range of adverse events described in user reports.
No regulatory authority has approved melanotan-2 for human use, and several countries classify it as a prescription-only or controlled substance, which restricts lawful supply. Material sold online is generally labelled as a research chemical and is not required to meet pharmaceutical standards of identity or purity. Published human data consist mainly of small uncontrolled studies, case reports and adverse-event notifications, so the evidence base is descriptive rather than confirmatory. Whether repeated melanocyte stimulation alters long-term naevus behaviour remains an open question that no completed trial has resolved.
Published pharmacokinetic information is limited and comes mainly from small studies rather than registrational trials. Plasma half-life is usually described as short, on the order of tens of minutes, followed by rapid tissue distribution and clearance of the intact peptide. Metabolites and low concentrations of parent compound have been reported in urine, a detail relevant to anti-doping and forensic testing. Whether repeated exposure changes receptor sensitivity or clearance over time remains an open question. Values differ noticeably between analytical assays, so published numbers should be read as approximate rather than definitive.
Melanotan II is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide with the sequence Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-NH2, corresponding to a molecular formula of C50H69N15O9 and a monoisotopic mass near 1024 daltons. It was designed as a structural analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, a peptide hormone produced by cleavage of proopiomelanocortin. A lactam bridge between the aspartate and lysine side chains closes the ring, and the C-terminal amide removes a free carboxyl group. Both modifications increase resistance to enzymatic degradation compared with the linear parent hormone. Four substitutions distinguish it from afamelanotide, the linear analogue studied under the name melanotan I.
== Description == It is an annual plant that grows 1 to 3 metres (3 to 10 feet) high and is sticky haired on all parts. The stems are thick and not very branched. The leaves can be over 50 centimetres (1 ft 8 in) long with the blades ovate to elliptical, or obovate, pointed towards the front and, at the base, run down the stem or are sessile, encompassing the stem. The scented inflorescences are multi-branched panicles. The flower stalks are 5 to 15 millimetres (3⁄16 to 9⁄16 in) long. The calyx is 12 to 18 millimetres (1⁄2 to 11⁄16 in) and is covered with uneven 4 to 8 mm (3⁄16 to 5⁄16 in) narrow pointed calyx lobes shorter than the calyx tube. The crown is plate-shaped, the coronet is white, pink or red, the corolla tube greenish-cream, pink or red. The corolla tube has a total length of 3.5 to 4.5 cm (1+3⁄8 to 1+3⁄4 in) and is 3 to 5 mm (1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in) wide in the lower part and widens to 7 to 12 mm (1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in) in the upper part. The coronet is lobed or pentagonal. The stamens are designed unevenly and start below the center of the corolla tube. The anthers of the four longer stamens are close to the opening of the corolla tube or are slightly above it. The fifth stamen is significantly shorter than both longer pairs. The stamens have a length of 2.5 to 3.5 cm (1 to 1+3⁄8 in), significantly longer than the anthers, and are hairy at the base. The fruit is a 1.5 to 2 cm (9⁄16 to 13⁄16 in) long capsule that is narrowly elliptical-to-egg-shaped. It can stand out over the calyx or be enclosed by it.
==== Asia-Pacific Air Hub ==== UPS's Asia-Pacific Air Hub is located at Singapore Changi Airport. The hub has been expanded by 25% in 2023 to meet the growing e-commerce demand following the pandemic. After the upgrade, it can process 40% more import packages and 45% more export packages, enabling extended pick-up cut-off times for all export services. The hub also features refrigerators and freezers that can maintain temperatures between −20 and 25 °C (−4 and 77 °F) to facilitate the temporary storage of shipments, especially for critical healthcare deliveries such as COVID-19 vaccines. It is part of Changi's cold chain infrastructure, which ensures an unbroken cold chain for pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Lindow Moss is a peat bog in Lindow, an area of Wilmslow, Cheshire, which has been used as common land since the medieval period. It formed after the last ice age, one of many such peat bogs in north-east Cheshire and the Mersey basin that formed in hollows caused by melting ice. Investigations have not yet discovered settlement or agricultural activity around the edge of Lindow Moss that would have been contemporary with Lindow Man, but analysis of pollen in the peat suggests there was some cultivation in the vicinity. Once covering over 600 hectares (1,500 acres), the bog has now shrunk to a tenth of its original size. It is a dangerous place and an 18th-century writer recorded people drowning there. For centuries, the peat from the bog was used as fuel, and it continued to be extracted until the 1980s, by which time the process had been mechanised. Lindow Moss is a lowland raised mire, a type of peat bog which often produces the best-preserved bog bodies, allowing more detailed analysis. Lowland raised mires occur mainly in northern England and extend south to the Midlands. Lindow Man is one of 27 bodies to be recovered from such areas.
The most studied ring destructive pathway is the Kodama pathway and it was initially identified in Pseudomonas abikonensis and Pseudomonas jijani. The pathway comprises four main steps: i) the successive hydroxylation by NADH-dependent dioxygenases of the carbons in one of the aromatic rings, followed by ii) the dehydrogenation of the ring by a NAD+ cofactor and further iii) oxygenation promoting ring cleavage and formation of a pyruvyl branch; concluding with iv) the hydrolysis of the pyruvyl substituent to release pyruvate and the remaining of the substrate. Since the end products of the pathway are still water soluble sulfur compounds, the pathway has often been disregarded as an appealing pathway for industrial applications, in particular by the oil industry. The most well-studied sulfur specific pathway is the 4S pathway, first discovered in the bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis (strain IGTS8), which was observed to remove sulfur from dibenzothiophenes and derivatives in three steps: i) a double oxidation of the sulfur (to sulfoxide and sulfone) performed by a flavin-dependent monoxygenase, followed by ii) a carbon-sulfur bond cleavage by a second flavin-dependent monoxygenase and a iii) desulfination reaction through which 2-hydroxybiphenyl and sulfite are produced.
=== Distance restraints === A crosspeak in a NOESY experiment signifies spatial proximity between the two nuclei in question. Thus each peak can be converted into a maximum distance between the nuclei, usually between 1.8 and 6 angstroms. The intensity of a NOESY peak is proportional to the distance to the minus 6th power, so the distance is determined according to the intensity of the peak. The intensity-distance relationship is not exact, so usually a distance range is used. It is important to assign the NOESY peaks to the correct nuclei based on the chemical shifts. If this task is performed manually, it is usually very labor-intensive since proteins usually have thousands of NOESY peaks. Some computer programs such as PASD/XPLOR-NIH, UNIO, CYANA, ARIA/CNS, and AUDANA/PONDEROSA-C/S in the Integrative NMR platform perform this task automatically on manually pre-processed listings of peak positions and peak volumes, coupled to a structure calculation. Direct access to the raw NOESY data without the cumbersome need of iteratively refined peak lists is so far only granted by the PASD algorithm implemented in XPLOR-NIH, the ATNOS/CANDID approach implemented in the UNIO software package, and the PONDEROSA-C/S and thus indeed guarantees objective and efficient NOESY spectral analysis. To obtain as accurate assignments as possible, it is a great advantage to have access to carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 NOESY experiments, since they help to resolve overlap in the proton dimension. This leads to faster and more reliable assignments, and in turn to better structures.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
In June 2019, Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill 25, or the Reproductive Health Act. The act repealed the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, which penalized doctors for performing abortions considered "unnecessary", and the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act". The new bill ensured the "fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about one's own reproductive health", specifically the right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term or to terminate it, and denies a zygote, an embryo, or a fetus "independent rights under the law" of the State of Illinois. Pritzker encouraged other states that had passed restrictions on abortion to reconsider their positions and said that women from other states could access medical services in Illinois. After Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Illinois became an abortion-access state for people in the South and Midwest whose states ban abortion, with 30% of abortions being for out-of-state residents. Abortions in Illinois increased by over 45% in the year after Roe was overturned, primarily due to patients' traveling from states with abortion bans. In 2024, Pritzker signed the Birth Equity Act, which required Illinois-based health insurance providers to cover abortion care without copayments or deductibles. On June 24, 2026, Pritzker signed the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act, a law that protects those seeking abortions in Illinois by shielding digital medical records from out-of-state entities, effective July 1, 2027.
==== Mechanisms of plasticity ==== To understand mechanisms of activity-dependent plasticity, Sur’s lab used microarray analyses of classic visual plasticity paradigms (dark-rearing and monocular deprivation during the critical period) to discover gene expression changes and microRNAs associated with cortical plasticity. They demonstrated rules of plasticity and the role of specific molecules in implementing these rules. His lab showed that neuronal plasticity is implemented by locally coordinated potentiation and depression of spines, which involves AMPA receptor redistribution via targeted expression of Arc. Together with large-scale synaptic dynamics of V1 neurons during normal development, these findings have demonstrated a fundamental principle, that Hebbian strengthening of coactive synapses and heterosynaptic weakening of adjacent synapses cooperatively mediate neuron-wide plasticity.
=== Superficial bundles === Superficial neurovascular bundles do not include arteries, and consist primarily of capillaries and nerves. Because capillaries function as the sites for substance exchange between interstitial fluid and blood, they tend to have large surface area and short diffusion path. Normally, capillaries consist of a central lumen lined with an endothelium, a single layer of smooth epithelial cells.
=== Pusha T's feud with Jim Jones === Rapper Jim Jones made headlines in 2023 for questioning Pusha T's placement in a top fifty rappers of all-time list on the RapCaviar podcast. He repeated his stance during an interview on radio show The Breakfast Club. Pusha T's verse on "Chains & Whips", the first song from Let God Sort Em Out teased at a Louis Vuitton fashion show in 2023, was reported as a response to Jones; in the lyrics, Pusha T accused Jones of jealousy and implied that his comments were made to cosy up to Drake, Pusha T's rival who had brought Jones out as a guest at a concert shortly before the RapCaviar interview. Jones reignited the feud after the release of the lead single "Ace Trumpets" in 2025: "I don't believe it, I don't believe them." When asked about the feud in June 2025, Pusha T responded: "I personally never understood what the interviews were about [...] or why my name kept coming up. It's one thing to keep saying I'm not a top fifty MC, but it's another thing for you not to say that you [yourself] are one. No one asked me about a top fifty nothing. After about the third interview, I promise you, I said, 'Man, he must really want me to know what he thinks about me.' And that's how [my] verse came. This is what I really think about him. This is what I really think about him. Every line is my true heart."
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Deep gas-phase reactor oxidation of ethylene oxide at 800–1,000 K (527–727 °C; 980–1,340 °F) and a pressure of 0.1–1 MPa (15–145 psi) yields a complex mixture of products containing O2, H2, CO, CO2, CH4, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, C3H6, C3H8, and CH3CHO.
==== Non-ionic ==== Non-ionic surfactants have covalently bonded oxygen-containing hydrophilic groups, which are bonded to hydrophobic parent structures. The water-solubility of the oxygen groups is the result of hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding decreases with increasing temperature, and the water solubility of non-ionic surfactants therefore decreases with increasing temperature. Non-ionic surfactants are less sensitive to water hardness than anionic surfactants, and they foam less strongly. The differences between the individual types of non-ionic surfactants are slight, and the choice is primarily governed having regard to the costs of special properties (e.g., effectiveness and efficiency, toxicity, dermatological compatibility, biodegradability) or permission for use in food.
The Rockefeller Foundation continued funding German eugenics research even after it was clear that it was being used to rationalize discrimination against Jewish people and other groups, after the Nuremberg laws in 1935. In 1936, Rockefeller fulfilled pledges of $655,000 to Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, even though several distinguished Jewish scientists had been dropped from the institute at the time. The Rockefeller Foundation did not alert the world about the racist implications of Nazi ideology, but furthered and funded eugenic research through the 1930s. Even into the 1950s, Rockefeller continued to provide some funding for research borne out of German eugenics. The foundation also funded the relocation of scholars threatened by the Nazis to America in the 1930s, known as the Refugee Scholar Program and the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars. Some of the notable figures relocated or saved, among a total of 303 scholars, were Thomas Mann, Claude Lévi-Strauss and Leó Szilárd. The foundation helped The New School provide a haven for scholars threatened by the Nazis.
== Plot == Fifteen-year-old orphan Jolene breaks free from foster care, marrying Mickey, a nerdy 20-year-old. They live with Mickey's Uncle Phil and Aunt Kay. On the night before her sixteenth birthday, Jolene asks Mickey about his mother, but he rebuffs her and starts crying. To make him feel better, she seduces him, but Mickey's inexperience leads to uncomfortable and joyless sex. The next day, Mickey and Uncle Phil wish Jolene "Happy Birthday" with Kay asking Jolene to clean the floor. Phil walks in and is aroused by Jolene's dancing while cleaning the floor and they have sex. They start a passionate affair, and Phil promises to build a house for the two of them, but asks Jolene to keep their relationship a secret, due to them both being married. Upon catching Phil and Jolene in bed, Kay kicks Jolene out of the house. After a physical altercation with Phil, Mickey drives off and kills himself by jumping off a bridge. Aunt Kay has Jolene placed in a juvenile mental institution, where she meets Cindy, a psychiatric nurse. Jolene, a talented artist, asks for paper and colored pencils to draw. Her request is denied, but she is allowed crayons, and she starts a small business selling crayon portraits to her fellow patients. Jolene is called to testify against Uncle Phil, and he is sentenced to eighteen months in prison for statutory rape. Cindy, a closeted lesbian, is immediately infatuated with Jolene and this culminates in another affair. Cindy breaks Jolene out of the mental hospital and hides her in her apartment.
A study of children admitted to hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, found that 52.1% of the bottles their caregivers considered clean were actually contaminated. This occurred even though caregivers reportedly followed many of the recommended cleaning practices for cleaning and sterilizing bottles. The most common mistake was to boil the bottles for less than the minimum time recommended by WHO. Research into the preparation of infant formula in South Korea indicates significant levels of contamination can be transmitted through the handling of spoons and other utensils. Spoons, after being touched, were often left in the formula container, allowing bacteria to spread to the formula in the container. C. sakazakii, S. enterica, and S. aureus, all of which are potentially fatal, were able to surviving for weeks in contaminated infant formula. Understanding how recommendations are interpreted is important: in one study, leaving a bottle in water that had been previously boiled in a kettle was believed to be "boiling" the bottle. Researchers emphasize that health providers need to better educate caregivers; and that practical methods of bottle hygiene need to be suited to use in field settings. For example, in Peru, easy-to-adopt practices like using a bottle brush and detergent gave greater advantages than difficult-to-achieve procedures like boiling a bottle. WHO (which strongly recommends breastfeeding) notes that in cases where bottle feeding is to occur, much better education is needed on how to use bottles.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, containing seven amino acids with a lactam ring and a D-configured phenylalanine residue. It is supplied as a lyophilised powder for laboratory research.
The natural hormone is a linear tridecapeptide that is rapidly degraded in circulation. Melanotan-2 is shortened, cyclised, N-terminally acetylated, and carries a D-amino acid substitution, all of which slow enzymatic breakdown.
No national medicines regulator has approved melanotan-2 for therapeutic or cosmetic use. In several jurisdictions it is treated as an unapproved prescription medicine, and its legal classification differs from country to country.
No. It is a laboratory-made peptide, while the natural hormone is alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, a longer peptide produced by the pituitary gland and by skin cells. Melanotan-2 mimics only a short active region of that hormone and contains non-natural residues such as D-phenylalanine.