Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.24.3 (collagenase)
 18,340 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Thirty human aortas with varying degrees of atheroma graded macroscopically according to the WHO classification were taken at autopsy from subjects of different ages (24-86 years). Study by light microscopy showed aortas with an intact wall (4 subjects, 25-46 years) with a thin intima and regular elastic layers, and aortas with varying degrees of modification of the wall, where the intima was of varying thickness and the elastic fibers showed varying degrees of damage (moderate lesions: 5 subjects, 35-52 yrs; severe lesions: 21 subjects, 26-86 yrs). From each aorta, a 4-cm segment from the tunica media, free of atheromatous lesions, was defatted and subjected to successive treatment with EDTA-Tris, 6 M guanidine-HCl-Tris, 6 M guanidine-HCl-Tris-DTE and collagenase. The residues (EP residues) were subjected to amino acid (AA) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study. In the young subject, the AA composition was similar to that of elastin and the TEM images were characteristic of this substance. In the aging subject, an increase in polar AA and a parallel decrease in apolar AA and crosslinks was noted. By TEM, the elastin was seen to be associated with abundant fibrillar material. Trypsin treatment of EP residues gave E residues, whose composition and TEM appearance were similar in all samples, corresponding to the standard composition of elastin and its classic appearance by electron microscopy. We suggest that the fibrillar material removed by trypsin is the morphological reflection of the chemical variations observed in the EP residues. These correspond to contamination of the elastin by a polar protein fraction. This contamination is closely correlated with age but not with the degree of atheroma. Thus the age-related chemical changes in elastin appear to be independent of the onset and evolution of atheromatous lesions. The 10-15 nm diameter of the contaminating fibrillar material suggests that may be the microfibrillar fraction of elastic tissue.
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PMID:Age-related changes in the elastic tissue of the human thoracic aorta. 217 15

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 EDTA-Tris, 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 quantitated. This allowed the total content of the various components of the tunica media to be assessed by both gravimetric and analytical means. An age-related 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.
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PMID:Age-related changes in composition and mechanical properties of the tunica media of the upper thoracic human aorta. 682 97

Microfibrillar glycoproteins are a significant component of vascular elastic tissue, but little is known about their contribution to vascular physiology and pathology. We have investigated some physicochemical properties of the glycoproteins that may be pertinent to these roles. Because of the difficulty in isolating intact glycoproteins in a form and quantity suitable for physicochemical examination, we based our analysis on a comparison of the properties of porcine thoracic aorta and pulmonary artery extracted with GuHCl and collagenase (preparation GC) and after further treatment with dithioerythritol to remove glycoproteins (preparation GC/DTE). Amino acid analysis showed that GC/DTE had the amino acid composition of pure elastin while GC contained a higher proportion of polar amino acids, particularly in the aortic preparation. GC stained with alcian blue, particularly in the intimal region, but GC/DTE did not. GC had a higher water content and a slower viscoelastic response and the circumferential elastic modulus was approximately 50% lower (whether expressed in terms of sample weight or elastin content). Clearly, therefore, the microfibrils do not stiffen the network and may prevent the alignment of elastin fibers in the circumferential direction. Their effect on hydration may arise either because they impose mechanical constraints on the geometry of the network or because they modify the inter- and intramolecular hydrophobic or electrostatic interactions that influence the tissue organization and hydration. Molecular probe measurements of the intrafibrillar pore structure using radiolabeled and fluorescent probes showed that removal of the microfibrils caused a slight decrease in the extrafibrillar water space and a larger decrease in the intrafibrillar water space. Sucrose, a small probe molecule, was able to penetrate most of the intrafibrillar water space when microfibrils were present but was virtually excluded when they were not. Potentiometric titration and radiotracer assays of ion binding both showed that the microfibrils contribute a considerable negative charge (-9 mumoles/g wet tissue in the aortic preparation and -16 mumoles/g wet weight in the pulmonary artery) and increase calcium binding by approximately 30%.
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PMID:Physicochemical properties of arterial elastin and its associated glycoproteins. 999 Aug 42