Apelin is the endogenous ligand for the G-protein-coupled APJ receptor that is expressed at the surface of some cell types. It is widely expressed in various organs such as the heart, lung, kidney, liver, adipose tissue,gastrointestinal tract, brain, adrenal glands, endothelium, and human plasma. Apelin gene encodes a pre-proprotein of 77 amino acids, with a signal peptide in the N-terminal region. After translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum and cleavage of the signal peptide, the proprotein of 55 amino acids may generate several active fragments: a 36 amino acid peptide corresponding to the sequence 42-77 (apelin 36), a 17 amino acid peptide corresponding to the sequence 61-77 (apelin 17) and a 13 amino acid peptide corresponding to the sequence 65-77 (apelin 13). This later fragment may also undergo a pyroglutamynation at the level of its N-terminal glutamine residue.