The elastin content in the thoracic aorta of male Brown-Norway (BN) rats is 31.4+/-1.2% (dry weight), whereas that of male LOU rats is 37.2+/-1.0%. A similar difference in the elastin content of the thoracic aorta is also observed in female animals. Furthermore, in the thoracic aorta of young, growing rats as well as in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells, the steady-state level of elastin mRNA...

BACKGROUND In clinical investigations elastin peptide concentration has been proposed as one potential marker of lung elastin degradation. No epidemiological study has yet confirmed this hypothesis. METHODS The relation of elastin peptide concentration to some factors closely related to pulmonary emphysema (age, smoking habits, FEV1 alpha protease inhibitor (PI) phenotype) and to alcohol cons...

The development of atherosclerotic lesions and abdominal aortic aneurysms involves degradation and loss of extracellular matrix components, such as collagen and elastin. Releases of the elastin cross-links desmosine (DES) and isodesmosine (IDE) may reflect elastin degradation in cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated the production of soluble elastin cross-linking structures by protei...

Haploinsufficiency of elastin leads, in more than half of patients with Williams-Beuren syndrome, to development of supravalvular aortic stenosis and hypertension. Determining mechanisms implicated in elastin synthesis would be of interest to find new elastogenic molecules to treat such a pathology. Here, we analyzed the signaling pathway linking intracellular calcium concentration to elastin r...

objective: the incidence of heart valve disease is increasing worldwide and the number of heart valve replacements is expected to increase in the future. by mimicking the main tissue structures and properties of heart valve, tissue engineering offers new options for the replacements. applying an appropriate scaffold in fabricating tissue-engineered heart valves (tehvs) is of importance since it...

Biomaterials based upon elastin and elastin-derived molecules are increasingly investigated for their application in tissue engineering. This interest is fuelled by the remarkable properties of this structural protein, such as elasticity, self-assembly, long-term stability, and biological activity. Elastin can be applied in biomaterials in various forms, including insoluble elastin fibres, hydr...

Elastin-derived peptides, produced by digesting human aortic elastin and bovine ligament elastin with human neutrophil elastase, were tested for chemotactic activity. At 100 micrograms protein/ml, elastin digests were nearly as active for monocytes as saturating amounts of complement-derived chemotactic activity. Neutrophils and alveolar macrophages showed less response to elastin peptidces tha...

Ventricular dilation after myocardial infarction can cause heart failure. Increasing strength and elasticity in the infarct region might prevent ventricular dilation. Because elastin provides strength, extensibility, and resilience to tissues and maintains tissue architecture, we studied the effect of elastin expression in the infarct on scar expansion and heart function. COS-7 cells transfecte...

Abstract Elastin is a functional protein of the dermal extracellular matrix and critical component skin wound healing. In severe wounds, cells do not produce enough elastin; therefore, ability to transfer elastin tissue highly advantageous. This study aims develop characterize bovine elastin/tannic acid (E/T) conjugate for healing applications. A simple conjugation method between extracted (E) ...

Elastin is essential to accommodate physiological deformation and provide elastic support for blood vessels. As a long-lived extracellular matrix protein, elastin can suffer from cumulative effects of exposure to chemical damage, which greatly compromises the mechanical function of elastin. The mechanical properties of elastin are closely related to its microstructure and the external chemical ...