Elabela_Dosage, benefits & legal status
Also known as APELA, ELA, Toddler, ELA-32, apelin receptor early endogenous ligand
Discovered independently as Elabela and as Toddler, and the reference databases use a third name.
Common vial size is what vendors typically sell, not a recommendation. Enter your own vial in the calculator.
What is Elabela?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
This hormone was discovered twice. One group found it in 2013 studying zebrafish heart development and called it Elabela. Another found it independently and published in 2014 calling it Toddler, after the way zebrafish embryos moved without it. The reference databases settled on a third name that nobody uses in conversation. What makes it worth a page is the pairing with apelin: the apelin receptor has two natural hormones with completely different sequences, and elabela binds it at least as tightly. Nothing has ever been given to a person, and unlike almost everything else on this site it does not even have an FDA substance record.
Elabela is an endogenous peptide and the second natural ligand of the apelin receptor, APLNR. UniProtKB P0DMC3 gives its recommended name as apelin receptor early endogenous ligand, with Protein Elabela and Protein Toddler as alternatives, and the gene as APELA with synonyms ELA and TDL. The precursor is 54 residues with a signal sequence at 1 to 22 and a single mature chain at 23 to 54, giving 32 residues, and an annotated N-linked glycosylation site. It shares no sequence resemblance with apelin despite sharing apelin's receptor.
What it's used for
Nothing. It is an endogenous peptide studied in developmental and cardiovascular biology. It has never been administered to a human and no trial of it exists.
How does Elabela work?
What it does in the body, and where.One receptor with two unrelated natural hormones is uncommon, and it is the reason this peptide matters. Apelin and elabela share almost nothing in sequence and both activate APLNR.
- 01Two ligands, one receptorApelin was identified as the apelin receptor's ligand in 1998. Elabela was found fifteen years later and binds the same receptor despite a completely different sequence. Any description of apelin as the receptor's ligand is incomplete, and any analysis of the pathway that ignores elabela is missing half the input.
- 02Not the same signalComparative receptor work reports that the two hormones bind the shared receptor differently rather than interchangeably. Same receptor, different engagement, and that is the likely reason both exist. We have not read binding constants from a primary source, so none are quoted.
- 03Where it was foundIn zebrafish embryos. Removing it stopped the heart from forming properly in the 2013 work, and in the independent 2014 study it stopped embryonic cells from moving correctly during gastrulation. Both results are developmental biology in fish, not findings about adult human physiology.
- 04What exists in humansMeasurement, not administration. The only human work we could verify is a conference abstract reporting elabela as an endogenous ligand of the human apelin receptor and reduced in pulmonary arterial hypertension. No one has given it to a person.
What else is it used for?
Each group carries its own evidence level.Approved means regulators have cleared it for that purpose. Investigational means it is in trials. Early research means it is being studied and is not established.
Found twice, named three times
Research only- Animal studyThe 2013 Developmental Cell paper named it Elabela and showed it is essential for zebrafish heart development. The 2014 Science paper named it Toddler, found it independently by screening small secreted peptides, and showed that without it embryonic cells fail to move properly during gastrulation.
- lab-analysisThe reference databases use neither name as primary: UniProt's recommended name is apelin receptor early endogenous ligand, with Elabela and Toddler as alternatives.
- No dataBoth original findings are developmental biology in fish. Neither is a statement about treating anything in an adult human.
How it compares with apelin at the shared receptor
Research only- lab-analysisThe two hormones share the apelin receptor and share essentially no sequence. That is the unusual fact worth taking away.
- Lab studyComparative pharmacology reports that elabela and apelin bind the shared receptor differently rather than interchangeably. This page gives that direction and no binding constants, because none were read from a primary source.
- No dataClaims that elabela acts independently of the apelin receptor are not supported by anything we opened. Every source we read has it signaling through APLNR.
What does not exist
none- No dataNo human has been given elabela. No registered trial of it was found, and no development program exists.
- RegulatoryA search of the FDA substance registry returned no record for it, so there is no UNII, and no CAS number appeared in anything we opened. That is a useful contrast with apelin, and apelin has substance records for both the hormone and apelin-13.
- lab-analysisThe shorter forms quoted in the literature, ELA-21, ELA-14 and ELA-11, are pharmacology constructs and not annotated features of the reference record.
Elabela, Toddler and APELA are the same molecule, and a reader meeting the three names in three papers can easily count three discoveries. There was one molecule and two independent discoveries, in 2013 and 2014, in zebrafish. The second error is the one that matters for anyone reading about the apelin pathway: apelin is not the apelin receptor's only natural ligand, and a pathway description that mentions only apelin is incomplete. Third, the shorter forms ELA-21, ELA-14 and ELA-11 appear in pharmacology papers but are not annotated forms in the reference record, so they should not be presented as natural processed products on its authority. Last, nothing here has ever been given to a person. Human studies of elabela measured it in blood and tissue, and a measured blood level is not evidence that administering something helps.
The published record
Papers and trials about Elabela
Searched: elabela, Apela, Toddler.
Left out: apelin receptor (shared with apelin, which has its own slug and a far larger literature); Toddler (alone) (an ordinary English word that matches a large pediatric literature); APELA (alone) (too short and collides with unrelated abbreviations); zebrafish (the model organism, with a vast developmental-biology literature).
285 papers tagged human · 116 not reviews or lab · 0 clinical trial publications
538 registered trials · 33 with posted results
Furthest stage reached: Registered study, no drug phase or later, completed, no results posted
Counted from Europe PMC indexing, not read by a person; a human tag can land on reviews, commentary or lab papers; clinical trial publications is the narrower count. 338 papers and 100 trials indexed in detail.
At a glance
Four things to know about Elabela
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.No established dose, not applicable. Not applicable No range
It has never been administered to a person, so no schedule exists.
Not establishedNo figure
No figure exists, because the peptide has never been administered to a person and no human pharmacokinetic study has been done. Apelin, the other ligand at the same receptor, is cleared from plasma within minutes.
You can compare this against the whole library to see where it sits.
What does it cost?
Typical dose and cost, in plain numbers.Elabela is not injected in the forms covered here
Route: not taken as a treatment. No dose exists. Nothing has ever been given to a person. Published figures are receptor binding and signaling measurements in cells and tissue, and they do not convert into a dose. Any figure offered as an elabela dose would be invented.
How do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Nothing to store: it is not taken as a treatment.
Elabela is not used as a medicine or a supplement, so no home storage question arises. Laboratory suppliers ship research material frozen and state their own handling conditions on the certificate that comes with it.
What are the side effects and cautions?
Known cautions and warnings for this compound.Solubility, computed: 34% charged residues, 47% hydrophobic. Water usually sufficient.
A first-pass rule from peptide manufacturers' guidance. It does not account for disulfide bridges, salt form or how the powder was dried, and it predicts what should be easy rather than what will happen in your vial.
Who should avoid it
- Any human use: it has never been given to a person, there is no dose, no formulation and no safety data
- Treating measured blood levels as evidence that giving it does something: the human studies measured the hormone, they did not administer it
Stop and get help
- Not applicable. It is not taken
Common effects
- Unknown. Nothing has been administered to a person and nothing has been measured as an effect
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is Elabela approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.No. Elabela is not approved for any use, anywhere. It is sold labeled for laboratory research only, and there is no legal route to buy it for human use.
- Approval statusResearch only
- RouteNot taken as a treatment
- Checked25 October 2026
- DoseNo dose has been established in people.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- Sources
What has happened recently
No regulatory status anywhere, and no development program. Identity comes from UniProtKB P0DMC3: a 54-residue precursor, signal sequence at 1 to 22, single mature chain at 23 to 54 giving 32 residues, with an N-linked glycosylation site annotated. The recommended name is apelin receptor early endogenous ligand; Protein Elabela and Protein Toddler are the alternatives, and the gene is APELA with ELA and TDL as synonyms. Unusually for a peptide on this site, a search of the FDA substance registry returned no record, so there is no UNII, and no CAS number appeared in any record we opened. No registered trial of elabela exists. The shorter forms named in the pharmacology literature, ELA-21, ELA-14 and ELA-11, are not annotated as features in the reference record and should not be attributed to it.
You can compare this against the whole library, or read how to check a seller.
What else is like Elabela?
Others in Sexual and hormonal, side by side.If you're weighing Elabela, it's worth reading PT-141 (Bremelanotide), Kisspeptin, and Gonadorelin (GnRH) in the same class.
Discovered independently as Elabela and as Toddler, and the reference databases use a third name.
- Dose
- No established dose
- How often
- Not applicable
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- Dose
- 1.75 mg per dose
- How often
- As needed, before activity
A peptide that switches on natural sex-hormone signaling for libido and fertility.
- Dose
- 0.1 up to 0.2 mg per dose
- How often
- Daily in vendor protocols
A shot that keeps your own testosterone and fertility hormones going.
- Dose
- 0.1 up to 0.2 mg per dose (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 2-3x per week or more
Guides for this compound
- How to Reconstitute a Peptide
Mix peptide powder with bacteriostatic water, step by step.
- How to Read an Insulin Syringe
Read the units, convert to millilitres, and draw the exact dose.
- mcg vs mg: The Peptide Dosing Mistake to Avoid
Your vial says mg and your protocol says mcg. Here is the conversion and how to check it.
- How to Read a Peptide COA
What the purity number does and does not tell you, and how to spot an edited report.
- How to Vet a Peptide Vendor
Independent COAs, HPLC purity, and the red flags that mean walk away.
Sources
- Chng and colleagues, Developmental Cell(2013)ELABELA: A Hormone Essential for Heart Development Signals via the Apelin Receptor. Volume 27, issue 6, pages 672 to 680, December 2013, first author Serene C. Chng. The discovery paper, naming the peptide Elabela and reporting an essential role in zebrafish heart development through the apelin receptor.
- Pauli and colleagues, Science(2014)Toddler: An Embryonic Signal That Promotes Cell Movement via Apelin Receptors. Volume 343, issue 6172, article 1248636, February 14, 2014, first author Andrea Pauli. The independent discovery of the same peptide under a different name, found by screening candidate small secreted peptides in zebrafish, where loss of it impaired embryonic cell movement during gastrulation.
- UniProtKB P0DMC3, apelin receptor early endogenous ligand(2026)Recommended name apelin receptor early endogenous ligand, alternatives Protein Elabela and Protein Toddler, gene APELA with synonyms ELA and TDL. A 54-residue precursor with a signal sequence at 1 to 22 and a single mature chain at 23 to 54, plus an N-linked glycosylation site at position 27. Read positionally, the mature chain is QRPVNLTMRRKLRKHNCLQRRCMPLHSRVPFP, 32 residues. No features named ELA-21, ELA-14 or ELA-11 appear in the record.
- Couvineau and colleagues, The FASEB Journal(2020)Elabela/Toddler and apelin bind differently to the apelin receptor. Volume 34, issue 6, pages 7989 to 8000. The source for this page's statement that the two hormones engage the shared receptor differently rather than interchangeably. We did not read the full text, so no binding constant is quoted here.
- Kuba and colleagues, Peptides(2019)Apelin and Elabela/Toddler; double ligands for APJ/Apelin receptor in heart development, physiology, and pathology. Volume 111, pages 62 to 70. A review covering the two-ligand arrangement that is the main point of this page.
- Yang and colleagues, Circulation, conference abstract(2015)A meeting abstract rather than a full paper, titled as reporting that ELABELA/Toddler (Apela) is an endogenous ligand of the human apelin receptor and is reduced in pulmonary arterial hypertension. This is the only human measurement work on elabela we could verify, and being a conference abstract it carries no published figures we can quote. A full 2017 Circulation paper is cited for this peptide in secondary sources; we could not find such a record and so do not cite one.
Beyond these, 438 records are indexed. Browse the records