title: Extracellular Matrix Disarray as a Mechanism for Greater Abdominal Versus Thoracic Aortic Stiffness With Aging in Primates.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Increased vascular stiffness is central to the pathophysiology of aging, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and atherosclerosis. However, relatively few studies have examined vascular stiffness in both the thoracic and the abdominal aorta with aging, despite major differences in anatomy, embryological origin, and relation to aortic aneurysm.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 2 other unique features of this study were (1) to study young (9±1 years) and old (26±1 years) male monkeys and (2) to study direct and continuous measurements of aortic pressure and thoracic and abdominal aortic diameters in conscious monkeys. As expected, aortic stiffness, β, was increased P<0.05, 2- to 3-fold, in old versus young thoracic aorta and augmented further with superimposition of acute hypertension with phenylephrine. Surprisingly, stiffness was not greater in old thoracic aorta than in young abdominal aorta. These results can be explained, in part, by the collagen/elastin ratio, but more importantly, by disarray of collagen and elastin, which correlated best with vascular stiffness. However, vascular smooth muscle cell stiffness was not different in thoracic versus abdominal aorta in either young or old monkeys.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thus, aortic stiffness increases with aging as expected, but the most severe increases in aortic stiffness observed in the abdominal aorta is novel, where values in young monkeys equaled, or even exceeded, values of thoracic aortic stiffness in old monkeys. These results can be explained by alterations in collagen/elastin ratio, but even more importantly by collagen and elastin disarray.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Dorothy E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Vatner
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McNulty
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Sanford
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: You-Tang
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.).
authors.forename: Gerald A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Meininger
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Newark (J.Z., X.Z., D.E.V., T.M.N., S.B., Y.-T.S., L.C., S.F.V.); and Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia (Z.S., G.A.M.). vatnersf@njms.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Vatner
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D062186:Arterial Pressure; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D004549:Elastin / Q000378:metabolism; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D059289:Vascular Stiffness
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D004549:Elastin
keywords: abdominal aorta; aging; collagen; elastin; hypertension; nonhuman primates