title: A sulphur matrix complex, elastic fibril composed of a fine core of amorphous elastin and microfibrils was largely accumulated in the aortic intima of aged rats.
abstract: We examined elastic fibrils in the aortic intima of aged rats with elastin staining, elastase digestion and X-ray microanalysis. The innermost elastic lamina, heavily stained by a brief treatment with azure II-toluidine blue without heating, was thin and fragmented, and an amorphous substance that stained weakly to moderately was accumulated in the thick subendothelial space of 26-28-month-old rat aortas. The substance was always present in the intimas; to a large extent in the aged rats but rarely in 5-month-old rats, and disappeared after digestion with elastase. The amorphous substance was identified as elastic fibrils approximately 0.1-0.2 microm in diameter under an electron microscope with tannic acid-uranyl acetate/lead citrate staining. Elastase digestion revealed that elastic fibrils were composed of a number of microfibrils, which were 10-12 nm in diameter, in and around a fine core of amorphous elastin. X-ray microanalysis revealed a clear peak of sulphur in the elastic fibrils.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Graduate School of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan. kogawa@vet.osakafu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazushige
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Fumihiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sasaki
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004547:Elastic Tissue / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004549:Elastin / Q000032:analysis*; D004577:Electron Probe Microanalysis; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D008297:Male; D020894:Microfibrils / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013455:Sulfur / Q000032:analysis; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D013455:Sulfur; D004549:Elastin