The protein elastin imparts extensibility, elastic recoil, and resilience to tissues including arterial walls, skin, lung alveoli, and the uterus. Elastin and elastin-like peptides are hydrophobic, disordered, and undergo liquid-liquid phase separation upon self-assembly. Despite extensive study, the structure of elastin remains controversial. We use molecular dynamics simulations on a massive ...

Human leukocyte cathespin G strongly stimulates the rate of solubilization of human lung elastin by human leukocyte elastase. For instance, the elastolytic activity of an equimolar mixture of elastase and cathepsin G is more than 5 times higher than that of elastase alone. Optimal stimulation occurs only if cathepsin G and elastase act simultaneously on elastin. Potentiation of leukocyte elasta...

Elastin degradation associated with matrix metalloproteinase activity is a cell-mediated process, observed in almost all types of vascular calcification. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that elastin-derived peptides induce an osteogenic response in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in vitro. Using RT-PCR and specific protein assays, we demonstrated that rat aortic SMCs incubated with ...

PURPOSE Glaucomatous optic neuropathy is characterized by remodeling of the extracellular matrix with disorganization of elastic fibers in the optic nerve head (ONH). There are significant differences in prevalence of glaucomatous optic neuropathy between African Americans (AAs) and Caucasian Americans (CAs). The goal of this study was to evaluate differences in elastin synthesis and maturation...

Elastin is an essential component of vertebrate arteries that provides elasticity and stores energy during the cardiac cycle. Elastin production in the arterial wall begins midgestation but increases rapidly during the last third of human and mouse development, just as blood pressure and cardiac output increase sharply. The aim of this study is to characterize the structure, hemodynamics, and m...

The elastin metabolism in systemic sclerosis (SSc) has been known to be abnormal. The authors investigated relationship between the clinical manifestations of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and serum levels of soluble elastin-derived peptide (S-EDP) and anti-elastin antibodies. Serum samples were obtained from 79 patients with SSc and 79 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Concentrations of serum ...

the alteration of cytokine balance is stated to exert greater influence on gingival overgrowth compared to the direct effect of the drug on the regulation of extracellular matrix metabolism. the current study evaluated the effect of phenytoin on the regulation of collagen, lysyl oxidase and elastin in gingival fibroblasts.normal human gingival fibroblasts (hgfs) were obtained from 4 healthy chi...

A KOH-collagenase or simple KOH digestion method was employed for scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies of elastin components in the rat thoracic aorta, mouse urinary bladder, and human ductus deferens. Immersion of the fixed tissues in 30% KOH solution for 8-10 min at 60 degrees C, with or without subsequent collagenase treatment, successfully removed collagen fibrils and basal laminae wh...

Previously we have shown that treatment of confluent, pulmonary fibroblast cultures with elastase results in upregulation of elastin mRNA and protein levels. In the present study we focused on determining the level at which elastin expression is upregulated after elastase exposure. We examined as models for this investigation elastin gene expression in primary pulmonary fibroblast cells during ...

Elastin is the protein responsible for the characteristic elastic properties of many tissues including the skin, lungs and large blood vessels. Loss-of-function mutations in the elastin gene are known to cause the heart defect supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS). We and others have identified deletions, nonsense mutations and splice site mutations in SVAS patients that abolish the function of ...