AHK-Cu
A copper-binding tripeptide (Ala-His-Lys-Cu) studied for hair follicle stimulation and wound healing, structurally related to GHK-Cu but with a different amino acid sequence.
Also referenced as: AHK Copper, Alanine-Histidine-Lysine Copper
Also appears in: Dermal
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This name primarily lives in the research market and should not be read like an approved pharmaceutical product.
Primary research area: Tissue repair. Also surfaces under Dermal for browsing and discovery.
AHK Copper, Alanine-Histidine-Lysine Copper
No FDA label signal · 0 trials · 1 PubMed results
Current evidence for AHK-Cu is limited to laboratory or animal studies — there are no name-matched human trials with reported results. Any claims about effects in people are not yet backed by clinical data.
AHK-Cu has no clinical trials that name it and 1 PubMed-indexed publication and is not FDA-approved. Current evidence is preclinical or mechanistic.
Re-checked nightly against the registries — tracked since 2026-07-09. No band changes yet.
Grades evidence strength, not efficacy or safety. Research-use context; not medical advice. Graded 2026-09-08 from PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN, openFDA, Health Canada, and OpenAlex — computed deterministically and refreshed nightly, with a retraction check. How we grade →
What is AHK-Cu?
AHK-Cu is a synthetic copper-binding tripeptide with the sequence Ala-His-Lys complexed with a copper(II) ion. It belongs to the same family of copper peptides as GHK-Cu but differs in its N-terminal amino acid (alanine instead of glycine). Both peptides bind copper through the histidine and lysine residues, but AHK-Cu has been studied primarily for hair follicle effects rather than the broader wound-healing profile of GHK-Cu.
How it works
- Dermal papilla stimulation — AHK-Cu has been shown to increase the size of hair follicles and stimulate dermal papilla cell proliferation in vitro (Pyo et al., Annals of Dermatology, 2007)
- VEGF upregulation — copper peptides promote vascular endothelial growth factor expression, improving blood supply to follicles and wound sites (Pickart et al., International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2012)
- Wnt/β-catenin signaling — copper peptides have been associated with activation of Wnt pathway components involved in hair follicle cycling, though this is better characterized for GHK-Cu (Pickart et al., Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2012)
Research status
AHK-Cu has a smaller evidence base than GHK-Cu:
- Pyo et al. (2007) demonstrated that AHK-Cu promoted hair growth in mice and increased dermal papilla cell proliferation (Annals of Dermatology, 19(1):31–36)
- Pickart et al. (2012) reviewed the broader biology of copper peptides in tissue remodeling (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 13(5):5408–5417)
- Most mechanistic data comes from the GHK-Cu literature, with the assumption that AHK-Cu shares overlapping pathways due to structural similarity
No human clinical trials specific to AHK-Cu have been published.
Key considerations
- Less published evidence than GHK-Cu — most vendors and users treat them as interchangeable, but the research base is thinner for AHK-Cu
- Available from research vendors as lyophilized powder, typically in smaller vial sizes (5–10mg)
- Often marketed specifically for hair-loss research rather than the broader wound-healing applications of GHK-Cu
- The copper complexation is essential for activity — uncomplexed AHK peptide is not equivalent