Carl read the papersWhat it actually is
Livagen is a synthetic tetrapeptide, Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala (KEDA), from the Khavinson bioregulator family. It was built from the amino acid make-up of liver peptide extracts, which is where the liver label comes from.
It is sold as a liver peptide, but most of its papers are about something stranger: chromatin, the way DNA is packed. With age, some DNA gets wound tighter and the genes in it go quiet. The claim is that Livagen loosens that packing in old cells and switches some of those genes back on.
How it’s thought to work
- Chromatin decondensation — In cultured lymphocytes from old donors, reported to loosen age-condensed heterochromatin and reactivate ribosomal genes.
- Hepatocyte protein synthesis — Raised protein synthesis in cultured rat liver cells, most strongly in cells from old animals.
- Enzyme effects — Blocked enkephalin-degrading enzymes from human serum in a test tube, with no binding to opioid receptors.
- Gut stability — In rat work, small-intestine enzymes did not break it down at all, which is the stated argument for taking it by mouth.
What the research says
Livagen has more papers than most of its siblings, and a slightly wider author list: a genetics group at Tbilisi State University in Georgia has published on it, once (2007) with no Khavinson author at all. It is still cell cultures and rats: chromatin in lymphocytes from donors aged 80 to 91, rat liver cell cultures, rat gut enzymes. The only human treatment data we found is the developer's patent (filed 2000): 23 people with chronic persistent hepatitis, with bilirubin and ALT down after treatment. Those numbers are compared with the patients' own starting values, not with the 12 controls the filing mentions. No registered clinical trial.
- Tetrapeptide Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala, designed from liver peptide extracts.
- Reported to loosen age-condensed chromatin in lymphocytes from donors aged 80 to 91, in culture.
- Raised protein synthesis in cultured rat liver cells, most in cells from old animals.
- Human data is limited to the developer's patent: 23 hepatitis patients, before-and-after comparison.
Reported protocols
These are the doses the peptide community actually reports running (Reddit & forums), alongside published research — logged for education, not as a recommendation to use.
| Parameter | Commonly reported range |
|---|---|
| Community dose | Not established. The only personal account we found was a vendor-linked blog post with no amount given |
| Figures quoted online | 10 to 20 mg a day as oral capsules, in 10 to 20 day courses, on peptide database sites. No study is cited |
| Patent figures | Injected into muscle once daily at 0.01 to 100 mcg per kg for 10 to 40 days in the filing's hepatitis patients |
| Cycle | Short courses repeated two or three times a year is the pattern those sites repeat for this family. Also unsourced |
| Carl's note | The patent's own range is a 10,000-fold spread. That is another way of saying nobody pinned down a dose. |
Common use cases
| Goal | Community protocol notes |
|---|---|
| Liver support (how it is sold) | patent and rat data only; no human trial |
| Ageing and chromatin research | where most of the actual papers are |
| As part of a bioregulator set | the same Khavinson family as Ovagen and Epithalon |
Mixing it (reconstitution)
Freeze-dried peptides must be reconstituted with bacteriostatic water before they can be measured. Carl’s calculator turns “mg in the vial + ml of water + target dose” into “units on the syringe” — and tells you how long the vial lasts.
→ Open the Reconstitution Calculator
Injection & handling
No established injected dose exists. The developer's patent injected it into muscle at microgram-per-kilo amounts, across a 10,000-fold range, for 10 to 40 days in a small group with no proper control comparison. Most websites describe oral capsules instead, at milligram amounts nobody has tested. The rat finding that gut enzymes did not break it down is the argument for oral use; whether enough gets absorbed in people is untested. Reconstituted, keep it cold.
Stacks it appears in
- With Ovagen — The other bioregulator sold for the liver. No study we found combines them.
- With Epithalon — Both turn up in the same enzyme and liver-cell papers from the Khavinson group (Epithalon did nothing to the liver cells). No combination data in people.
Sources
- Khavinson et al. 2002, Bull Exp Biol Med: Livagen and chromatin activation in lymphocytes from old people
- Lezhava and Jokhadze 2007, Ann N Y Acad Sci: Heterochromatin in cultured lymphocytes from old individuals
- Brodsky et al. 2001, Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol: Protein synthesis in rat hepatocyte cultures and Livagen
- Timofeeva et al. 2005, Adv Gerontol: Livagen and digestive enzymes in rats
- Kost et al. 2003, Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol: Livagen and Epitalon on enkephalin-degrading enzymes
- Kuznik et al. 2020, Adv Gerontol: Liver polypeptide complex and KEDA tetrapeptide (review)
- Khavinson et al. 2022, Int J Mol Sci: table of named bioregulators
- Patent US7101854B2: Tetrapeptide stimulating functional activity of hepatocytes (Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala)
- peptide-db.com Livagen page (figures quoted online)
- Carrots 'N' Cake Substack: May peptide stack (vendor-linked personal post)
- ClinicalTrials.gov search: livagen
- SAHPRA: Peptide Products - Public Information (May 2026)
- WADA 2026 Prohibited List (S0 non-approved substances)
