{"id":1384,"date":"2026-09-04T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/semax-stroke-recovery-human-study\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:15:12","slug":"semax-stroke-recovery-human-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/semax-stroke-recovery-human-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Semax and Stroke Recovery: The BDNF Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Semax has a genuine clinical record in stroke recovery, most of it Russian, where it went through the regulatory system and has been in use for decades.<\/strong> One controlled study of 110 stroke patients, published in a Russian neurology journal, is a clear positive data point.<\/p>\n<h2>Findings<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"vl-findings\">\n<li>In a 110-patient study, stroke patients who received <strong>Semax alongside standard care<\/strong> recovered movement and speech faster than those on standard care alone.<\/li>\n<li>The study linked this to higher levels of <strong>BDNF<\/strong>, a growth factor the brain uses for repair and rewiring.<\/li>\n<li>Semax is a registered stroke medication in Russia, given as nasal drops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The stroke-recovery study (2018)<\/h2>\n<p>Gusev and colleagues examined 110 patients after ischemic stroke (43 men, 67 women, mean age 58). Patients were split into early and late rehabilitation groups, each further divided into Semax and non-Semax subgroups. Semax was given as two 10-day courses at 6,000 mcg\/day with a 20-day interval. The researchers tracked plasma BDNF, motor performance, and Barthel Index scores.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>BDNF:<\/strong> Semax raised plasma BDNF and kept it elevated across the whole study period, regardless of rehabilitation timing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Recovery:<\/strong> Semax and the higher BDNF levels accelerated improvement and produced better final Barthel Index scores.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Motor function:<\/strong> there was a positive correlation between BDNF levels, early rehabilitation, and motor-performance improvement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The authors concluded that Semax plus early rehabilitation reduced motor deficits, improved recovery measures, and increased plasma BDNF.<\/p>\n<h2>What Semax is<\/h2>\n<p>Semax is a heptapeptide derived from a fragment of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH 4-10), modified for stability. It was developed as an intranasal compound \u2014 the nasal route is the studied one, not a compromise \u2014 which is why it exists as both a vial and a pre-mixed nasal spray. It is often studied alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/buy-selank-canada\/\">Selank<\/a>, and our <a href=\"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/semax-vs-selank\/\">Semax vs Selank comparison<\/a> covers the pair.<\/p>\n<div class=\"vl-note\">\n<p>Vistara Labs stocks <a href=\"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/semax-10mg\/\">Semax 10&nbsp;mg<\/a> vials and a <a href=\"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/semax-nasal-spray-10mg\/\">Semax nasal spray<\/a>, shipped from within Canada to every province.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n<h3>What did the Semax stroke study find?<\/h3>\n<p>In a study of 110 patients after ischemic stroke, adding Semax increased plasma BDNF levels, sped functional recovery, and improved final Barthel Index scores. The effect on motor performance was most pronounced with early rehabilitation.<\/p>\n<h3>What is BDNF and why does it matter here?<\/h3>\n<p>BDNF is brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that supports neuron survival and growth. In the Semax stroke study, Semax administration was associated with higher, sustained plasma BDNF that correlated with better recovery scores.<\/p>\n<h3>Is Semax available as a nasal spray?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes. Semax was developed as an intranasal compound, and the clinical work uses nasal administration. It is available both as a lyophilised vial and as a pre-mixed nasal spray.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vl-citation\"><em>Source: Gusev EI, et al. The efficacy of semax in the treatment of patients at different stages of ischemic stroke. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2018;118(3 Pt 2):61-68. <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29798983\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PMID 29798983<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"FAQPage\", \"mainEntity\": [{\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What did the Semax stroke study find?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"In a study of 110 patients after ischemic stroke, adding Semax increased plasma BDNF levels, sped functional recovery, and improved final Barthel Index scores. The effect on motor performance was most pronounced with early rehabilitation.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What is BDNF and why does it matter here?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"BDNF is brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that supports neuron survival and growth. In the Semax stroke study, Semax administration was associated with higher, sustained plasma BDNF that correlated with better recovery scores.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Is Semax available as a nasal spray?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Yes. Semax was developed as an intranasal compound, and the clinical work uses nasal administration. It is available both as a lyophilised vial and as a pre-mixed nasal spray.\"}}]}<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a study of 110 ischemic-stroke patients, adding Semax raised plasma BDNF, sped functional recovery, and improved Barthel Index scores. The published human data on this ACTH-fragment peptide.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_vistara_fr_title":"","_vistara_fr_desc":"","_vl_research_product":1158,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"vl_research_area":[39],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peptide-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1384"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1455,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions\/1455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"vl_research_area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vistaralabs.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vl_research_area?post=1384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}