PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotide) is a mixture of low-molecular-weight DNA-derived deoxyribonucleotide polymers, commonly purified from salmon or trout sperm DNA (also available plant-derived). It is used in aesthetic medicine and wound healing — the "salmon-DNA" skin boosters — and is not a classic single-sequence peptide.
Class
A DNA-derived deoxyribonucleotide-polymer mixture used in wound healing and aesthetics. Single compound (as catalogued).
Mechanism
PDRN has two intertwined actions. First, it selectively agonizes the adenosine A2A receptor, raising cAMP and activating protein kinase A (PKA) signaling that promotes angiogenesis, fibroblast activity, collagen and extracellular-matrix synthesis, and reduced inflammation. Second, through a nucleotide "salvage pathway" it supplies nucleotides and precursors that support tissue repair.
Research summary
Unlike the cosmetic topicals, PDRN has a genuine clinical and preclinical literature: systematic reviews of wound healing and tissue regeneration, periodontal-regeneration clinical outcomes, diabetic and impaired-wound models, and dermatology/aesthetic studies. The evidence is real but concentrated in wound-healing and aesthetic-injectable contexts and weighted toward specific research centers (notably Korean and Italian groups; it is marketed clinically, for example as Placentex).
Knowledge-base note: our index currently holds zero documents for PDRN — a coverage gap rather than pollution; the real literature simply has not been indexed yet.
Human clinical trial data
In the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial by Squadrito and colleagues (2014) in patients with diabetes and Wagner grade 1 or 2 foot ulcers (placebo n = 106, PDRN n = 110), treatments were performed for 8 weeks by intramuscular and perilesional route (PubMed). In the randomized controlled trial by Kim and colleagues (2017) in 20 patients with non-healing diabetic foot ulcers, PDRN was injected for 2 weeks by the intramuscular (1 ampule, 3 mL, 5.625 mg, 5 days per week) and perilesional routes (1 ampule, 3 mL, 5.625 mg, 2 days per week) (PubMed).
Clinical / safety context
Used clinically in several countries for aesthetics and wound care; it is not an FDA-approved systemic drug in the US. It is generally well tolerated in the clinical literature, with the main considerations being source/purity and injection-site reactions.
Evidence quality — Moderate
There is real human wound-healing and aesthetic evidence and a well-described A2A mechanism; PDRN is stronger than the cosmetic topicals but weaker and more region-specific than mainstream approved drugs.
Notes
PDRN = polydeoxyribonucleotide (salmon-DNA derived). Distinguish it from PN (polynucleotides). It is primarily a wound-healing and aesthetic-injectable agent.