Abstract
THE structure and chemical characterization of elastic tissue by means of elastolysis and electron microscopy have been studied by Hall, Reed and Tunbridge1, and by Lansing, Rosenthal, Alex and Dempsey2. The results of both laboratories agree in showing the complex nature of collagen-free elastin originating either from aorta or ligamentum nuchæ. In the elastic tissue the existence of a cement material —matrix—is suggested, of which the physical and chemical properties are similar to the fibrils imbedded in it. Recently, Schwarz and Dettmer3, working with fresh aorta imbedded in cremolan (Dünnstschnitte), found that during dissolution of elastin fibres by elastase, only the matrix called Kittsubstanz is dissolved, while fibrillæ remain intact and can be examined in the electron microscope. The elementary fibrillæ of the elastic fibres are identical with the collagen fibrils and also are periodically cross-striated. The discrepancy between the results of Hall et al. 1 and of Lansing et al. 2, on one hand, and of Schwarz and Dettmer3, on the other, could be explained by my observation4 that if fibres of collagen or purified collagen tissues are contracted by heat they can be dissolved by elastase. In order to obtain purified elastin the tissue must be boiled; the same procedure was employed by Stein and Miller, who boiled the ligamentum nuchæ in water for many days to remove collagen. Lansing et al. 2 described the preparation of pure elastin by boiling the tissues with 0.1 N sodium hydroxide for 45 min. at 98°. In their experiments, the amorphous matrix as well as the fibrillæ imbedded in it were dissolved during elastolysis, whereas in the experiments of Schwarz and Dettmer3—without heat denaturation—elastase produced only the dissolution of the Kittsubstanz.
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References
Hall, D. A., Reed, R., and Tunbridge, R. E., Nature, 170, 264 (1952).
Lansing, A. I., Rosenthal, T. B., Alex, M., and Dempsey, E. U., Anat. Rec., 114, 555 (1952).
Schwarz, W., and Dettmer, N., Virchows Arch., 323, 243 (1953).
Banga, I., meeting of Hung. Phys. Assoc., 1953.
Partridge, S. M., Biochem. J., 43, 387 (1948).
Rimington, C., Biochem. J., 34, 931 (1940).
Banga, I., and Baló, J., Nature, 171, 44 (1953).
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BANGA, I. Thermal Contraction of Collagen and its Dissolution with Elastase. Nature 172, 1099 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/1721099a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1721099a0
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