Elastin is an extracellular matrix protein critical to the normal structure and function of human lung. Recently reported data indicate that live human alveolar macrophages can degrade purified elastin in vitro. In this study, we directly compared the elastolytic activity of alveolar macrophages with that of human neutrophils. In the absence of proteinase inhibitors, human neutrophils degrade m...

Background-—Well-defined inflammation, proliferation, and maturation phases orchestrate the remodeling of the injured myocardium after myocardial infarction (MI) by controlling the formation of new extracellular matrix. The extracellular matrix consists mainly of collagen but also fractions of elastin. It is thought that elastin is responsible for maintaining elastic properties of the myocardiu...

OBJECTIVE Elastin is the major structural extracellular matrix component of the arterial wall that provides the elastic recoil properties and resilience essential for proper vascular function. Elastin-derived peptides (EDP) originating from elastin fragmentation during vascular remodeling have been shown to play an important role in cell physiology and development of cardiovascular diseases. Ho...

We have investigated the ability of neutral and lysosomal enzymes of mouse macrophages to degrade the insoluble extracellular matrices secreted by smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts. Matrices produced by smooth muscle cells contained glycoproteins, elastin, and collagens, but matrices of endothelial cells and fibroblasts contained no elastin. Sequential enzyme digestion of ...

Tissue engineering of vascular elastin matrices disrupted by mechanical injury, disease, or congenitally absent, is among other factors, limited by the lack of suitable cell scaffolds to up-regulate and guide innately poor elastin synthesis by adult vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Evidence suggests that scaffolds based on hyaluronan (HA), a glycosaminoglycan, may be useful to elicit elasto...

PURPOSE To determine whether abnormal elastin synthesis in the glaucomatous optic nerve head and lamina cribrosa is due to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) or secondary to axonal injury, monkeys with elevated IOP and with optic nerve transection were compared. METHODS Unilateral, chronic elevated IOP was induced in 11 rhesus monkeys by laser scarification of the trabecular meshwork. IOP wa...

Elastases have been widely studied because of their important uses as medicine and meat tenderizers. However, there are relatively few studies on marine elastases. Myroilysin, secreted by Myroides profundi D25 from deep-sea sediment, is a novel elastase. In this study, we examined the elastin degradation mechanism of myroilysin. When mixed with insoluble bovine elastin, myroilysin bound hydroph...

The elastic fiber consists of several components: a central core of alpha-elastin and a microfibrillar sheath containing three components: fibrillin, microfibril-associated glycoprotein, and a 35-kD protein with amine oxidase activity. Elastin is a major component of the elastic fibers of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the lamina cribrosa, and elastic fibers undergo marked changes in primary...

Our previous studies have established that a cell-surface 25-kDa elastin-binding protein of Staphylococcus aureus (EbpS) mediates binding of this pathogen to the extracellular matrix protein elastin. Results from binding assays examining the activity of various EbpS fragments suggested that the elastin recognition domain is contained within the first 59 amino acids. In this report, we have used...

The structure of medial elastin determines arterial function and affects wall mechanical properties. The aim of this study was to (1) characterize the structure of elastin in terms of textural features, (2) relate structural parameters to total number of cardiac cycles (TC), and (3) determine the contribution of medial elastin to lumen mechanical stress. Images of pressure-fixed aortic sections...