Chemical comparison of intimal elastin in the human cerebral and coronary arteries and aorta. A preliminary note.

The purpose of our experiments was to clarify the relationship between the susceptibility to atherosclerosis and chemical composition in the human cerebral, coronary arteries and aorta, and the concentration and composition of human arterial intimal elastic tissues were measured. In the cerebral arteries, the concentration of hot alkali-insoluble elastin was higher than that of the coronary arteries and aortas, and gradually decreased with age. Age-related changes of the elastin in the coronary arteries were quite small. The total polar amino acids and crude ash contents of arterial elastins were affected by age and treatment of elastic tissue wheteher or not EDTA-decalcification was applied prior to alkali-extraction. No significant differences in the amino acid composition of elastin was founded between the cerebral, coronary and aortic intimas and no significant changes to elastin, and or collagen, which can explain the slow development of atherosclerosis in the cerebral artery, were founded. Therefore, from these results, the slower development rate of cerebral atherosclerosis, as compared with other arteries, can not be sufficiently concluded.