KLOW 80 mg

What is KLOW?

KLOW is a trade name, not a chemical designation. It stands for a peptide blend in which several synthetic peptides from different structural classes are filled together into one vial and freeze-dried. Besides the name, the label states the total fill weight of 80 mg, which covers all components together. The product is occasionally also referred to as “KLOW Blend” or “Klow Stack”. As a mixture, KLOW has no molecular formula, CAS number or PubChem entry of its own; such identifiers exist only for defined single molecules.

The usual market composition

In the research-chemical trade, the name KLOW usually denotes a combination of four components that have nothing in common chemically:

• GHK-Cu – copper(II) complex of the tripeptide Gly-His-Lys, listed individually in the catalogue as GHK-Cu
• BPC-157 – linear pentadecapeptide of 15 amino acids, individually as BPC-157
• TB-500 – peptide derived from the actin-binding region of thymosin β4, individually as TB-500
• KPV – tripeptide Lys-Pro-Val, the C-terminal end of the α-MSH sequence (positions 11 to 13), individually as KPV

What establishes the identity of the peptides in the vial is not the naming convention but the mass-spectrometric evidence in the certificate of analysis.

KLOW compared with the GLOW Stack

With the GLOW Stack, the catalogue lists a second blend of this kind. By common trade convention, GLOW comprises the copper peptide together with BPC-157 and TB-500; KLOW adds the α-MSH fragment KPV to this combination. The total fill weight is 70 mg for the GLOW Stack and 80 mg for KLOW. What both have in common is that the ratio of the components is fixed at filling and no single component can be taken out separately. If the peptides are to be examined in separate series of experiments, single vials are the more suitable choice.

Research context

We are not aware of any primary publications on KLOW as a mixture in its own right. The components come from separate fields of preclinical research: GHK-Cu from work in cell cultures and animal models on copper-binding peptides and remodelling of the extracellular matrix, BPC-157 and thymosin β4 peptides from work on tissue models and on actin and cell migration, and KPV from in-vitro and animal studies on α-MSH-related inflammatory signalling. Findings on a single substance cannot simply be transferred to the mixture. A blend is therefore suited above all to work in which the combination itself is the subject of investigation.

Analytics at GPeptides

A four-component blend places greater demands on analytics than a single peptide. In the HPLC chromatogram a separate signal is expected for each component, and additional secondary peaks point to impurities. Mass spectrometry has to find each component again by its mass, which for the usual market composition means BPC-157 at around 1419 Da, KPV at around 342 Da, the tripeptide GHK at around 340 Da or its copper complex, and TB-500, depending on the form, at around 889 Da (heptapeptide) or 4963 Da (complete thymosin β4). Notably, KPV and free GHK are only about 2 Da apart, a gap that a mass spectrometer nevertheless resolves clearly. KLOW is regularly tested externally by an independent laboratory using HPLC and mass spectrometry; available certificates of analysis are in the lab area, and as long as no document has been published for a product, its testing is considered pending.