Prior studies suggest that hyaluronan (HA), a glycosaminoglycan, may upregulate innately poor elastin matrix synthesis by adult vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). HA scaffolds could thus be useful to regenerate damaged vascular elastin. In an earlier study, we established that the elastogenic effects of non-oligomeric HA are fragment size- and/or dose-specific. We currently investigate the pr...

The elastin content of the chick thoracic aorta increases 2--3-fold during the first 3 weeks post-hatching. The deposition of elastin requires the covalent cross-linking of tropoelastin by means of lysine-derived cross-links. This process is sensitive to dietary copper intake, since copper serves as cofactor for lysyl oxidase, the enzyme that catalyses the oxidative deamination of the lysine re...

Previously we have shown that gradual changes in the structure of elastin during an elastase treatment can lead to important transition stages in the mechanical behavior of arteries. However, in vivo arteries are constantly being loaded due to systolic and diastolic pressures and so understanding the effects of loading on the enzymatic degradation of elastin in arteries is important. With biaxi...

OBJECTIVE Even though elastin and fibrillin-1 are the major structural components of elastic fibers, mutations in elastin and fibrillin-1 lead to narrowing of large arteries in supravalvular aortic stenosis and dilation of the ascending aorta in Marfan syndrome, respectively. A genetic approach was therefore used here to distinguish the differential contributions of elastin and fibrillin-1 to a...

Pseudolysin is the most abundant protease secreted by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and is the major extracellular virulence factor of this opportunistic human pathogen. Pseudolysin destroys human tissues by solubilizing elastin. However, the mechanisms by which pseudolysin binds to and degrades elastin remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of action of pseudolysin on elastin bi...

Elastin gene transcription is cell type specific and developmentally regulated, but the promoter often exhibits relatively weak activity in transient transfections of cells that express elastin at high levels. To search for positive-acting regulatory sequences, we isolated genomic clones spanning the mouse elastin gene and extensive 5'- and 3'-flanking regions. Restriction fragments of potentia...

BACKGROUND Maintaining the integrity of arterial elastin is vital for the prevention of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) development. We hypothesized that in vivo stabilization of aortic elastin with pentagalloyl glucose (PGG), an elastin-binding polyphenol, would interfere with AAA development. METHODS AND RESULTS Safety and efficacy of PGG treatment were first tested in vitro using cytotoxic...

Fibroblasts are known to have chemotactic responses to two components of the extracellular matrix, collagen and fibronectin. To extend these observations to other extracellular connective tissue macromolecules and their proteolytic fragments, fibroblasts from adult human skin and from late-gestation (270 d), fetal bovine ligaments were studied for chemotactic responsiveness to tropoelastin and ...

The elastic properties of extensible tissues such as arteries and skin are mainly due to the presence of elastic fibers whose major component is the extracellular matrix protein elastin. Pathophysiological degradation of this protein leads to the generation of elastin peptides that have been identified in the circulation in the ng/mL to microg/mL range. Similar concentrations of an elastin pept...