Selank and semax nasal sprays: what the science actually says

What did @stanmilsom1 actually say?

Stan is trying two Russian-developed peptide nasal sprays and has a clear plan for each: semax in the morning "for alertness" and mental clarity, selank in the evening to "calm me down, de-stress me." That's basically the whole claim. No dosing details, no stacking warnings, just a timing strategy based on each peptide's perceived profile. He promises an update in a few days.

To be fair, this is a low-key video. He's not selling anything or claiming these peptides cured his anxiety or supercharged his cognition. He's framing it as personal experimentation. That matters when evaluating what he actually put out there versus what the comments section might run with.

Does the science back this up?

Partially, and with significant caveats. The stimulating-versus-calming split he describes isn't invented from nowhere, but the human evidence base is thin enough that anyone presenting it as settled science should slow down.

Semax is a synthetic analogue of ACTH(4-7) developed in Russia and has been studied primarily there, which creates real problems for independent replication. Animal studies do show increased dopaminergic and serotonergic activity in rodent models (Dolotov et al., 2006, Neurochemical Research), and some human trials conducted in Russia report cognitive benefits in stroke rehabilitation patients. Whether those effects translate to healthy adults using it as a morning nootropic is a genuine unknown. The "alertness" framing isn't unreasonable, but calling it evidence-based for healthy users would be a stretch.

Selank is a synthetic analogue of tuftsin and has shown anxiolytic properties in animal models without the sedation profile typical of benzodiazepines (Semenova et al., 2010, Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine). Some small Russian trials report reduced anxiety in humans. An "evening wind-down" framing is plausible given the mechanism, but again, these studies are small, often Russian-only, and not replicated in Western peer-reviewed literature.

What did they get wrong (or right)?

He got the directional framing roughly right. Semax does have stimulating properties in the literature; selank does have anxiolytic associations. Credit where it's due.

What he glosses over, though, is that neither peptide is approved by the FDA or the EMA for any indication. These are not regulated medications in the US or UK. The nasal spray formulations circulating in the peptide community are almost entirely sourced from research chemical suppliers or compounding pharmacies operating in regulatory grey zones. Quality control is a real issue, not a theoretical one.

He also says he'll "post an update in a few days." A few days is far too short a window to evaluate either peptide meaningfully. The Russian human studies on selank ran for weeks. Interpreting how you feel after two or three days of nasal spray use and attributing it to the peptide rather than placebo, expectation, or routine changes is scientifically unreliable. That's not a criticism unique to Stan, it's a problem with almost every n=1 peptide video on this platform.

What should you actually know?

If you're curious about semax or selank, the honest answer is that the science is genuinely interesting and genuinely incomplete. These are not proven nootropics for healthy adults. They are not approved drugs. The research that does exist comes largely from a single country's scientific ecosystem, which limits how much confidence anyone should have.

Nasal delivery of peptides does have pharmacological logic behind it. The intranasal route can bypass the blood-brain barrier more effectively than oral administration for certain compounds (Thorne et al., 2004, Neuroscience). That's a real mechanism. It does not, however, mean that every peptide delivered nasally will produce the cognitive effects its proponents claim.

Before trying either compound, anyone seriously considering it should talk to a physician familiar with peptide pharmacology, understand that sourcing and purity verification matter enormously, and be genuinely skeptical of their own subjective experience as evidence of anything. The placebo response in nootropic self-experimentation is not small. It is substantial.

The bottom line

Stan's timing logic is not completely made up, but it is significantly ahead of the human evidence. Semax probably has some stimulating properties; selank probably has some anxiolytic properties. Whether either does what he expects in a healthy person, delivered nasally, at unspecified doses, over a few days, is something no current published study can confidently confirm. Watch his follow-up with appropriate skepticism, including the possibility that he'll feel exactly what he expects to feel.