GHK Basic

GHK Basic is the free tripeptide Gly-His-Lys, an endogenous copper-binding peptide found in human tissues and plasma. Its defining feature is high-affinity binding of Cu(II), and most of its biology is interpreted through that copper-delivery behavior and its more heavily studied complex, GHK-Cu.

GHK Basic is the non-complexed parent of GHK-Cu. Reviews describe broad effects on wound healing, extracellular matrix turnover, antioxidant defense, and gene-expression programs, but the experimentally firmer evidence comes from the copper complex rather than the free peptide alone. Under cosmetic INCI naming the same molecule is called Tripeptide-1, where vendors describe it as a collagen type I fragment and a "signaling peptide" intended to support collagen production. That concept is biologically plausible, but the mechanistically sharper literature still centers on copper-complexed GHK rather than free topical Tripeptide-1.