Extracellular matrix remodeling has been proposed as one mechanism by which proximal pulmonary arteries stiffen during pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Although some attention has been paid to the role of collagen and metallomatrix proteins in affecting vascular stiffness, much less work has been performed on changes in elastin structure-function relationships in PAH. Such work is warrant...

After a myocardial infarction, thinning and expansion of the fibrotic scar contribute to progressive heart failure. The loss of elastin is a major contributor to adverse extracellular matrix remodelling of the infarcted heart, and restoration of the elastic properties of the infarct region can prevent ventricular dysfunction. We implanted cells genetically modified to overexpress elastin to re-...

Elastin is the protein responsible for the resilience of vertebrate tissue. It is an extremely stable protein deposited during the early stages of life and experiencing almost no renewal. As a consequence, it can be considered that each individual has an elastin capital for life. Despite its extreme stability, elastin can be degraded by several enzymes termed elastases. Elastases are among the ...

A segment of chick elastin cDNA cloned in the plasmid pBR322 was sequenced by the method of Maxam and Gilbert ((1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 74, 560-564) and the 192-base pair insert was found to be derived from the nontranslated region of the 3' end of the mRNA. The nick-translated cDNA was used to identify and to estimate the relative amounts of elastin mRNA in the developing chick e...

The elastin-agar plate is useful for determining elastolytic activity. Determination of fungal elastase, however, requires partial purification of culture extracts and the orcein elastin or gravimetric method.

I previously reported that F-box/leucine-rich repeat protein 14 (FBXL14) expressed in periosteum-derived cells, and F-box WD-40 domain-containing 2 (FBXW2) the periosteum form a fiber-like structure. Here, two culture medium conditions, is, media with without ascorbic acid, were compared during explant culture. In absence of expression patterns osteocalcin, FBXW2, elastin using fluorescent immu...

PURPOSE To determine the composition and investigate the elastin fiber system in the juxtacanalicular tissue adjacent to and between collector channel orifices in normal human eyes. METHODS Normal human eyes (71.0 ± 8.6 years; mean ± SD; n = 4) were perfusion fixed at low (10 mm Hg) and high pressure (20 mm Hg) with 3% paraformaldehyde/0.1 M phosphate buffer. Frontal serial sections were cut ...

Whole bovine nuchal ligaments, or portions thereof (in the case of commercially valuable animals), were obtained from 45 animals (28 fetal and 17 postnatal) ranging in age from 110 days of gestation to 10 yr. Insoluble elastin was quantitatively prepared from the fresh ligaments by extraction with hot alkali and by a combination of multiple extractions with alkaline buffer and then repeated aut...

Two peptides containing the desmosine cross-link were isolated and purified from a subtilisin digest of oxalic acidsolubilized elastin. Molecular weights averaged approximately 6000. Automated sequence data suggest that the desmosines cross-link two polypeptide chains and that both desmosine and isodesmosine are present in the same primary sequence approximately equally substituted. The primary...