THE ELASTIC FIBER A REVIEW

A number of important questions remain to be answered concerning our understanding of elastic tissues. The size and molecular weight of the elastin precursor remains to be clearly established. The number of proteins involved in the microfibrillar component of the elastic fiber are as yet undetermined, although it would appear that they are glycoproteins that may represent a species of reasonably high molecular weight. Clearly the elastic fiber contains two morphologic components. During morphogenesis, the elastic fiber begins to appear in the form of aggregates of microfibrils that take the shape and direction of the presumptive elastic fiber. With increasing maturity elastin begins to form within the interstices of each bundle of microfibrils. By the time the elastic fiber is fully formed it consists largely of the amorphous component, elastin, surrounded by an envelope of microfibrils with microfibrils embedded within its interstices. It has been suggested that the microfibrils form and take their shape extracellularly under the influence of the cells that have secreted their precursors. After the aggregates of microfibrils have taken their shape Ross and Bornstein (22) have suggested that the elastin may interact ionically with the surface of the microfibrils, since each of these two components has an opposite net charge, and may be held in position while desmosine cross-links are established through the action of the enzyme, lysyl oxidase. Thus the microfibrils would serve as a scaffolding to determine morphogenetically the shape and direction to be later taken by the mature elastic fiber. The reason for the elastic properties of the elastin is still yet poorly understood, and the means by which the cells synthesize and secrete both of these components remain to be investigated.

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