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Pentapeptide-3

Also known as Vialox, Pentapeptide-3V, Gly-Pro-Arg-Pro-Ala-NH2, Waglerin-1 analogue

Topical peptide modelled on temple viper venom, claimed to block the muscle acetylcholine receptor.

preclinical Skin & cosmetic cosmetic ingredient

At a glance

Category
Skin & cosmetic
Status
cosmetic ingredient
Made from
synthetic Chemically synthesised. The design template is waglerin-1, a 22-amino-acid peptide from the venom of the temple viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri), but pentapeptide-3 is a short synthetic sequence modelled on it rather than a purified or extracted venom component 12.
Route
topical, in a cream, serum or mask
Half-life
Not applicable to topical use; systemic absorption is negligible. A 2026 safety-evaluation framework for cosmetic peptides concludes that topically applied peptides of this class are not expected to reach the bloodstream or lymphatic fluid at all 4
Onset
Supplier documentation describes change after about 28 days of twice-daily use; no independently published timeline exists
Molecular weight
approximately 495 g/mol
Sequence
Gly-Pro-Arg-Pro-Ala-NH2

A registered cosmetic ingredient sold under the trade name Vialox. It is not a medicine, has no registered indication, and no medicines authority has assessed its efficacy. It is applied topically only. The venom framing in its marketing is a description of the design template, not of the contents: the marketed material is manufactured synthetically and contains no venom and no snake-derived material of any kind 1.

Doping status: Not listed by WADA

Checked against the WADA 2026 Prohibited List. For a specific product and country, Global DRO is the lookup athletes are expected to use — the List names substances, not brand names.

The origin field is filled in here because the venom association is the ingredient's main marketing hook and it misleads in both directions. No snake is involved in manufacture, so there is no animal-sourcing question for a vegan or for anyone weighing tissue-derived risk. Equally, nothing about the venom pedigree transfers efficacy to the cosmetic: waglerin-1's receptor pharmacology is well characterised 3, and that characterisation belongs to the 22-residue natural peptide in isolated preparations, not to a five-residue analogue applied to the skin surface.

This is a short entry. There is little or no published research on this compound, so there is correspondingly little to report. Empty dosing or reconstitution sections mean no credible figures exist — not that they were left out.

Mechanism of action

Pentapeptide-3 is presented as an antagonist at the muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, blocking nerve signalling at the postsynaptic membrane so that the mimic muscles contract less and the skin folds less over them 12. The site to which it binds is on the muscle side of the neuromuscular junction — which makes it mechanistically distinct from argireline and leuphasyl, both covered separately here, which act presynaptically by interfering with SNARE-mediated vesicle fusion so that acetylcholine is released less readily in the first place. One peptide is claimed to stop the signal being sent, the other to stop it being received. Products that combine them do so on the assumption that the two mechanisms add up, which no published study has tested.

The difficulty is the same one that applies to every so-called neurocosmetic peptide, and it is not a small one. The neuromuscular junctions of the facial mimic muscles lie well below the epidermis and dermis, and no published measurement shows that a topically applied peptide of this size and polarity reaches them at anything approaching a receptor-blocking concentration. The one comparable published figure, for the cosmetic peptide acetyl hexapeptide-8, is 0.22 percent of an applied dose reaching the stratum corneum and 0.01 percent the viable epidermis, with none recovered in the dermis 4 — and the muscle is two layers below that. A 2020 peer-reviewed review noted that beyond the manufacturer's own claims about wrinkle size and skin roughness, no further investigation directly describing or supporting its anti-wrinkle properties has been published 2.

What the research shows

There is no published clinical trial of pentapeptide-3. The wrinkle and roughness figures that circulate come from the raw material supplier's dossier, and a peer-reviewed review states plainly that nothing beyond those manufacturer claims has been published 2. A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of peptides for skin ageing found only two topical peptide trials of adequate quality in the entire field, and neither concerned this peptide 5.

Research in humans

No independent randomised, placebo-controlled trial of this peptide appears in PubMed as of July 2026. What circulates are supplier panel results describing reductions in wrinkle depth and skin roughness after around 28 days of twice-daily use; those protocols have not been peer-reviewed and cannot be inspected. The peer-reviewed literature that describes the ingredient reports its mechanism and confirms the absence of independent investigation rather than adding any 12.

Animal and lab research

No animal studies of the cosmetic ingredient. The mechanistic pedigree belongs to the natural template: waglerin-1 is a competitive antagonist at the muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor with marked selectivity for the alpha-epsilon subunit interface of the adult receptor, mapped in detail in independent peer-reviewed work 3. Those experiments deliver the peptide directly to the receptor in an isolated preparation and say nothing about topical delivery, nor about whether a five-residue analogue retains the activity of a 22-residue peptide.

Caveats. All efficacy data come from the seller, unpublished and unverified. Whether the molecule reaches the neuromuscular junction through intact skin has never been addressed in a published study. Whether the shortened synthetic analogue retains the receptor affinity of waglerin-1 has not been published either, so both halves of the mechanism — the pharmacology and the delivery — rest on assumption. Marketing that positions this as a topical alternative to botulinum toxin has no published support: botulinum toxin is injected directly into muscle and acts enzymatically and irreversibly, which is not comparable in potency or in route.

What it is used for

  • Topical products aimed at expression lines, particularly forehead and glabellar lines
  • Often formulated with argireline, SNAP-8 or SYN-AKE on the assumption that presynaptic and postsynaptic mechanisms combine — an assumption no published study has tested
  • Included in 'instant tightening' masks and serums, where the immediate visible effect is generally attributable to film-forming polymers in the same product rather than to the peptide
  • Marketed as a topical alternative to injectable neuromodulators, a comparison the available data do not support 2

Dosing

Dose
The trade solution is typically used at 3 to 5 percent of the finished formulation; the peptide itself is present at parts-per-million levels
Frequency
Once to twice daily to clean skin
Route
topical — a cosmetic ingredient, not an injectable peptide
Duration
Supplier panels ran 28 days; any effect stops when use stops
  • These concentrations come from supplier formulation guidance, not from clinical dose-finding research. No dose-response study has been published for this peptide.
  • A label claim expressed as a percentage of Vialox refers to the trade solution and not to the peptide.
  • This is not an injectable. Injecting a cosmetic peptide solution has never been studied in humans, cosmetic trade solutions are not sterile and not pyrogen-free, and for a compound whose claimed mechanism is neuromuscular receptor blockade, deliberate injection is additionally unwise on pharmacological grounds.

These figures describe what the literature and published protocols report. They are not advice and not a dosing instruction.

Reconstitution

Solvent
water or the aqueous phase of an emulsion; not bacteriostatic water for injection
Storage
Raw material cool and dark, preferably 2-8 °C. A finished aqueous product requires a sound preservative system.

Added to the cooled water phase below roughly 40 °C. Avoid strongly acidic or alkaline phases and high electrolyte concentrations.

Safety

Side effects

  • Generally well tolerated topically; cosmetic peptides as a class perform well in standard skin and eye irritation testing 4
  • Mild redness, tingling or a tight feeling at the application site
  • Contact allergy is rare — peptides are typically not electrophilic and lack the reactivity that drives delayed-type hypersensitivity 4; reactions are more often to preservatives or fragrance
  • Irritation if applied too close to the eyelid margin or to mucous membranes
  • No independently collected side effect profile exists for this peptide, because no independent trial of it has been published

Do not use if

  • Known hypersensitivity to the ingredient or the formulation
  • Damaged, inflamed or freshly treated skin, for example after a peel or laser treatment
  • Do not apply to mucous membranes or in the eyes
  • Injecting this ingredient has never been studied in humans, and cosmetic trade solutions are not sterile or pyrogen-free — a concrete infection and pyrogen risk, compounded here by a claimed mechanism of neuromuscular blockade
  • Pregnancy and breastfeeding: no specific research, although systemic exposure from topical use is expected to be negligible 4

Interactions

No systemic drug interactions are expected with topical use, because a topically applied cosmetic peptide is not expected to reach the systemic circulation at all 4 — though this has not been measured for this ingredient specifically. Within a formulation the peptide is sensitive to extreme pH and to high electrolyte concentrations. Concurrent use with retinoids or exfoliating acids raises the chance of irritation without any demonstrated change in the peptide's action. Any theoretical interaction with a systemic neuromuscular agent is unmeasurable, because systemic exposure has never been quantified.

Sources