A cylindrical segment, free of complex atherosclerotic lesions, was resected at autopsy from each of 59 descending human thoracic aortas by cutting just below the level of the first pair of intercostal arteries and 35 mm distal to this incision. Each isolated tunica media was defatted and subjected to successive treatment with EDTATris, 5 M guanidine hydrochloride-Tris, 5 M guanidine hydrochloride-Tris-DTE, collagenase and either trypsin or hot alkali. After each extraction or digestion, the dimensions and weight of the segments were measured and the extracted materials were analyzed and quantltated. This allowed the total content of the various components of the tunica media to be assessed by both gravimetric and analytical means. An agerelated rise was observed in the total content of the following components: proteins and glycoproteins soluble in chaotropic solvents (ranging from 24 mg/cm in the youngest samples to 46 mg/cm in the oldest) and collagen (38 mg/cm to 69 mg/cm).In contrast, the total content of elastin remained constant at 70 mg/cm at all ages, but its concentration decreased due to the rise in the concentration of the other tissue components as the tunica media thickened with age. It was also noted that with increasing age there was an accumulation of protein(s) which could not be solubilized by extraction with chaotropic agents or with collagenase, but which could be removed by treatment with either trypsin or hot alkali. Mechanical measurements conducted before and after trypsin digestion on samples previously subjected to purification with the first four agents used suggest that this accumulated protein(s) influenced the elastic response of the tissue to the applied stress by increasing the incremental modulus, the breaking stress, and the hysteresis. After the removal of this additional protein(s), the mechanical behavior of the elastin component was found to be Identical in all samples, irrespective of age. It is therefore proposed that the morphological changes and the stiffening observed in the aging aortic wall are not due to degradation of its elastin network but to variations in the supramolecular organization of connective tissue components. (Arteriosclerosis 3:64-76, January/February 1983) W ith advancing age, the human aorta dilates and becomes stiffer at physiological pressures. To date, investigations aimed at the identification of compositional or structural changes of the wall components responsible for these alterations have produced rather conflicting results. 6 " 9 This probably reflects differences in sampling or in the methodologies adopted for the isolation and quantitation of ma- trix components, complicated by the use of relative, rather than absolute, concentrations in the expression of the results. 10 In addition, it is not yet known whether the mechanical properties of the aortic collagen fibers change with aging, while data relating to the dynamics of the elastin component, which is responsible for the long-range reversible extensibility of the vessel, are largely u...

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The structural and biological properties of the amino acid sequence coded by the rarely expressed exon 26A of human elastin were investigated. The C-terminal portion of this sequence, corresponding to residues 600-619 of human tropoelastin, REGDPSSSQHLPSTPSSPRV and three shorter derived peptides, LREGDPSS, SSSQHLPS, and LPSTPSSP, were synthesized and studied. Spectroscopic analyses by CD and NMR have identified a type II beta-turn within the sequence REGD of the octapeptide LREGDPSS. This structural motif was found also in the tetrapeptide REGD in both trifluoroethanol and water. The CD spectrum of the tetrapeptide REGD in trifluoroethanol was consistent with a pure type II beta-turn. A high chemotactic activity for monocytes was exhibited by the structured peptides REGD (CI 0.90 at 10(-)7 M) and LREGDPSS (CI 0.80 at 10(-)11 M), at variance with the unfolded peptides LPSTPSSP and SSSQHLPS, suggesting that this activity is strictly correlated with folded structures. Because the exon 26A of human elastin is expressed in the neointima of hypertensive pulmonary arteries, and macrophages are present in this pathologic tissue [Liptay et al. (1993) J. Clin. Invest. 91, 588-594], the chemotactic activity for human monocytes reported in this paper is consistent with an active role played by the exon 26A in inducing the migration of the monocyte/macrophage cells to the neointima.

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