Ingredient or product comparison
Top GHK-Cu Studies: Clinical Trial Comparison
Pickart et al. (1983) UC San Francisco Rat burn model, n=40 Topical gel, 200 µg/mL Time to re-epithelialization 31% faster healing vs control First study demonstrating measurable tissue repair acceleration. Established baseline mechanism Maquart et al. (1988)
This source-based comparison does not add ratings or recommend a winner.
- Pickart et al. (1983)
- UC San Francisco
- Rat burn model, n=40
- Topical gel, 200 µg/mL
- Time to re-epithelialization
- 31% faster healing vs control
- First study demonstrating measurable tissue repair acceleration. Established baseline mechanism
- Maquart et al. (1988)
- University of Reims
- Human venous ulcers, n=20
- Topical gel, 200 µg/mL, twice daily
- Wound closure rate
- 41% faster closure over 8 weeks
- Confirmed clinical relevance in chronic wounds. Moved beyond animal models
- Pollard et al. (2005)
- Stanford University
- In vitro fibroblast culture
- 1–10 µM in culture medium
- Collagen I synthesis (Western blot)
- 70% increase at 5 µM
- Isolated dose-response relationship. Established optimal concentration range
- Arul et al. (2006)
- Madras Medical College
- Rat diabetic wound model, n=36
- Injectable hydrogel, 50 µg/wound
- Collagen density (hydroxyproline assay)
- 2.3-fold increase vs saline control
- Showed efficacy in impaired healing model. Relevant for metabolic dysfunction
- Pickart & Margolina (2012)
- BioMetals (review)
- Systematic review of 39 studies
- Various (topical, injectable, oral)
- Mechanism summary across studies
- Copper transport, MMP modulation, gene expression
- Consolidated mechanistic understanding. Remains most cited GHK-Cu review
- Hong et al. (2015)
- Seoul National University
- Human fibroblast culture + aged skin model
- 5 µM, 72-hour exposure
- Gene expression microarray (4,224 genes)
- 263 genes upregulated (repair), 175 downregulated (inflammation)
- Most comprehensive gene-level analysis to date. Revealed systemic regulatory effects