Retinalamin
Polypeptide fraction from mammalian retina, registered in Russia for retinal dystrophies and post-surgical retinal recovery. The dossier includes a specific Soviet-era military application claim — improvement after laser-weapon retinal damage — that does not appear in any Western literature.
1 · Identity
- Identity
- sequence-only / literature
- Aliases
- Retinalaminum (EN); Ретиналамин (RU_LATIN)
2 · Mechanism — what the primary literature actually shows
Polypeptide fraction from bovine retina (Kirov Military Medical Academy). Three documented mechanism domains: (1) cataract-stasis — 57 patients with post-inflammatory chorioretinal degeneration, retinalamin in combination therapy slows maturation of complicated cataract and prevents vision loss (Alexandrova 2008); (2) retinal neuroprotection — molecular mechanism shared with epithalon is stimulation of neuronal and pigment-epithelium differentiation, used clinically for AMD, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (Linkova 2013); (3) circadian rhythm restoration — primary open-angle glaucoma patients, retinalamin restores disrupted circadian rhythms of IOP, BP, HR (Malishevskaya 2016); (4) neuronal marker normalisation — 23 patients (46 eyes) primary open-angle glaucoma, retinalamin normalises neurotrophic/neurodegeneration balance in tear fluid (Gabdrakhmanova 2018). The Khavinson 2020 master review frames retinalamin as part of the original Military Medical Academy organ-specific peptide family.
How it works
Key findings (5)
- 57 patients post-inflammatory chorioretinal degeneration + complicated cataract: retinalamin in combination slows cataract maturation, prevents vision loss (Alexandrova 2008)
- Molecular mechanism: retinalamin + epithalon stimulate neuronal and pigment-epithelium differentiation (Linkova 2013)
- 23 patients (46 eyes) primary open-angle glaucoma: retinalamin normalises neurotrophic/neurodegeneration markers in tear fluid (Gabdrakhmanova 2018)
- Primary open-angle glaucoma patients: retinalamin restores disrupted circadian rhythms of IOP, BP, HR (Malishevskaya 2016)
- Khavinson 2020 master review: retinalamin is original Kirov Military Medical Academy organ-specific peptide, developed for retinal function restoration after laser-weapon exposure (per Khavinson original programme)
Evidence quality
Moderate. Multiple direct clinical case series (57 patients chorioretinal, 46 eyes glaucoma, 23 patients glaucoma) but no international RCT. The original laser-weapon exposure indication (Khavinson 2020) is unique historical context.
Open questions (4)
- Cataract-stasis mechanism — direct lens protein protection or anti-inflammatory?
- Circadian rhythm restoration in glaucoma — is this via pineal axis or direct retinal effect?
- Tear fluid biomarker normalisation — does this correlate with functional visual outcomes?
- Original laser-weapon exposure indication — has this been published in classified Russian military medicine?
3 · Summary
Design distribution
| Design | Count | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| RCT | 1 | █ |
| CONTROLLED | 1 | █ |
| CLINICAL_UNCONTROLLED | 3 | ███ |
| UNGRADED | 2 | ██ |
4 · Possible mechanisms — candidate list
5 · Pathways — questions the corpus does not yet answer
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 1. Cataract-stasis mechanism — direct lens protein protection or anti-inflammatory?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 2. Circadian rhythm restoration in glaucoma — is this via pineal axis or direct retinal effect?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 3. Tear fluid biomarker normalisation — does this correlate with functional visual outcomes?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 4. Original laser-weapon exposure indication — has this been published in classified Russian military medicine?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
6 · Bibliography — Russian primary sources
- k-voprosu-o-peptidnyh-bioregulyatorah-retinalamin-obladaet-kataraktostaticheskim-effektom
- molekulyarnye-mehanizmy-retinoprotektornogo-deystviya-korotkih-peptidov
- lekarstvennye-peptidnye-preparaty-proshloe-nastoyaschee-buduschee
- neyronalnye-markery-pri-pervichnoy-otkrytougolnoy-glaukome
- vozrastnoy-desinhronoz-u-patsientov-s-pervichnoy-otkrytougolnoy-glaukomoy-prichina-ili-sledstvie-vozmozhnosti-korrektsii
- bioregulyatornye-peptidy-v-oftalmologii
- peptidy-zdorovyy-vzglyad-v-buduschee
- vtorichnaya-neyroprotektsiya-pri-glaukome
- dinamika-zritelnyh-funktsiy-v-otdalennyy-period-pri-ispolzovanii-retinalamina-i-korteksina
- mnogoletniy-opyt-nizkodozirovannoy-peptidnoy-neyroprotektsii-v-meditsine-obzor
Inventor (detail): V.Kh. Khavinson lab, retina extract program.
First publication: late 1980s / early 1990s; produced by Герофарм alongside Cortexin.
Peptide kind: Polypeptide fraction from porcine/bovine retina.
Below: substantive excerpts from 5 Russian primary papers. Click each title to expand the Russian/English abstract.
5/6 papers with substantive abstracts · 7,654 characters of Russian/English pharmacological text extracted · 5 Russian abstracts · 4 English abstracts · 5/6 relevance-classified.
Extracted findings (0 models · 4 mechanism terms · direction: ↑4 ↓4 ↺2 across 5 papers)
- Model organisms
- —
- Doses / concentrations
- —
- Mechanism terms
- антиоксиданты, дифференцировку, кортексин, экспрессию генов
- Effect direction
- 4× increase · 4× decrease · 2× restoration/normalisation
[2008] К вопросу о пептидных биорегуляторах: ретиналамин обладает катарактостатическим эффектом?
[2013] Молекулярные механизмы ретинопротекторного действия коротких пептидов
[2020] ЛЕКАРСТВЕННЫЕ ПЕПТИДНЫЕ ПРЕПАРАТЫ: ПРОШЛОЕ, НАСТОЯЩЕЕ, БУДУЩЕЕ
[2018] Нейрональные маркеры при первичной открытоугольной глаукоме
[2016] Возрастной десинхроноз у пациентов с первичной открытоугольной глаукомой. Причина или следствие? Возможности коррекции
7 · Bibliography — PubMed corpus
| PMID | Year | Design | n | Grade | COI | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39569781 | 2024 | CONTROLLED | 56 | [B] | — | [Objective structural and functional monitoring of polypeptide retinal neuroprotective therapy in diabetic retinopathy]. |
| 34726859 | 2021 | RCT | — | [C] | — | [Retinoprotective effects of Retinalamin studied in an experimental model of photochemical damage to rabbit retinas]. |
| 32366071 | 2020 | CLINICAL_UNCONTROLLED | 498 | [C] | — | [Peptide bioregulators: delivery and efficacy]. |
| 24003726 | 2013 | CLINICAL_UNCONTROLLED | — | [C] | coi | [Peptide bioregulators: the new class of geroprotectors. Message 2. Clinical studies results]. |
| 11521426 | 2001 | CLINICAL_UNCONTROLLED | 104 | [C] | coi | [Effectiveness of bio-regulators in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy]. |
| 12937684 | 2003 | — | — | — | — | Effects of peptides on proliferative activity of retinal and pigmented epithelial cells. |
| 12802458 | 2002 | — | — | — | — | Inductive activity of retinal peptides. |
8 · Corroboration
- Corpus source
- PubMed (eutils) and OpenAlex, swept against this compound by PMID. Last verified 26.08.2026.
- Identity source
- PubChem CID — verified live. InChIKey —. Live fetch on 26.08.2026.
- Provenance
- St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology (1990) Khavinson VKh — Retinal peptide complex; ophthalmic cytomedin
9 · Open questions
- 1 B-grade paper(s) — verify COI flag and replicate independently before treating as decision-grade.
- Most of the published evidence for this compound is from the group that developed it. Where independent replication exists, we flag it in the mechanism block above; where it doesn't, treat mechanism claims as developer-side.