Elastofibroma dorsi, a rare, noncapsulated benign entity is characterized by the proliferation of fibrous tissue with elastin and occurs most often in the infrascapular area of elderly women. It is a relatively slowly growing lesion and no reports of malignant transformation exist. Which is overlooked easily because it rarely causes symptoms such as tenderness, pain, or restriction of movement. The diagnosis of elastofibroma is established by typical histopathologic findings. Radiographic evaluation may lead to a presumptive diagnosis. We experienced a case of elastofibroma dorsi in a 48-year-old woman and report this case with a review of the literature.
Aged ; Diagnosis ; Elastin ; Female ; Fibroma ; Humans ; Middle Aged

A 71-year-old woman visited our hospital with the chief complain of a mass in her infrascapular region. We performed tumor excision and we diagnosed it as elastofibroma dorsi. Elastofibromas are benign soft tissue tumors that mostly arise in the infrascapular lesion; it is a slowly growing lesion that's characterized by the proliferation of fibrous tissue with elastin. Its incidence is very low and its pathogenesis remains unclear. We report here on this case, and we include a review of the relevant literature.
Aged ; Elastin ; Female ; Fibroma ; Humans ; Incidence ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax

A 63 year-old woman visited our hospital with a palpable chest wall mass in the infrascapular region. We performed excision of the mass. The mass was histolocally diagnosed as elastofibroma. Elastofibroma is characterized by the proliferation of fibrous tissue with elastin. It is a relatively slow growing benign soft tissue tumor and it is most often found in the infrascapular region. We have experienced a cases of this rare disease and we report on it together with a review of the relevant literature.
Elastin ; Female ; Humans ; Rare Diseases ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax

Many factors influence the elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) self-assembled into micron-sized particles. However, few efforts were made to investigate these factors. Using the ELPs [KV8F]n as the target, we studied systematically the factors with the dynamic light scattering. Our results show that the particle size increased and the uniform of particles decreased with the increase of the molecular weight. The analysis of size variation in self-assembled ELPs in response to changes in salt concentration indicated that the size increased with increasing the salt concentration, and the opposite response was observed when the concentration was above 0.4 mol/L. Under these conditions, the particles are micron-sized and larger than 1.1 μm. However, when the fusions containing the same ELPs and xylanase or 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase, the size of the self-assembled ELPs particles decreased dramatically, which was only about 1/10 of that of the free ELPs. We proposed that the solvent accessible charged area of the enzymes could interact with the ELPs, the sterical hindrance of the enzymes prevent the aggregation of the ELPs. This might be the most important parameter in altering the particle size sharply.
Elastin ; chemistry ; Molecular Weight ; Particle Size ; Peptides ; chemistry ; Salts ; chemistry

Elastin is a natural biomedical material of great potential. Being endowed with the special crosslinking and hydrophobic structure, elastin retains many good properties such as good elasticity, ductibility, biocompatibility, biodegradability and so on. Nowadays, elastin as a material, which is gradually attracting people' s attention in the biomedical materials field, has been used as tissue engineering scaffolds, derma substitutes and other biomedical materials. In this context, a systematic review on the characteristics of elastin as a biomedical material and on the actuality of its application is presented. Future developments of elastin in the field of biomedical applications are also discussed.
Biocompatible Materials ; Elastin ; chemistry ; physiology ; Humans ; Skin, Artificial ; Tissue Scaffolds

BACKGROUND: Many studies about the levator aponeurosis complex of the blepharoptosis have already been presented. However, the studies about the changes of the levator aponeurosis are relatively insufficient. So, this study was performed to observe histological changes of levator aponeurosis that arise depending on the severity of blepharoptosis and the age. METHODS: Twenty patients who have undergone surgical treatment for blepharoptosis from 2013 to 2014 were analyzed in this study. Patients were categorized mild or severe group according to the severity of blepharoptosis, and the age. Through the blepharoplasty incision, we harvested the specimens of the levator aponeurosis on the upper border of tarsal plate. After staining the specimens with the Verhoeff-van Gieson technique, the changes of elastin was analyzed in a histopathological manner. RESULTS: Light microscopy of the levator aponeurosis stained positively for elastic fibers using the Verhoeff-van Gieson technique. Elastic fibers appear to have direct connections with the collagen fiber of the levator aponeurosis. The amount of the elastin was decreased in the old age group. And the amount of elastin was decreased markedly in severe blepharoptosis group. CONCLUSIONS: The elastin of the levator aponeurosis was decreased in old age and elastin tended to decreased markedly in severe levator function group. The levator aponeurosis plays a greater role in the eyelid ptosis. Therefore, knowledge about the histologic changes of the levator aponeurosis may give more help us to understand the high recurrence rate of the blepharoptosis in old age. Also, considering this information, will be helpful to the blepharoptosis surgery.
Aging* ; Blepharoplasty ; Blepharoptosis* ; Collagen ; Elastic Tissue ; Elastin ; Eyelids ; Humans ; Microscopy ; Recurrence

The presence of elastin layers in the aortic walls of twelve human fetuses was confirmed with scanning electron microscope pictures after hot alkali treatment and histochemical examination. In addition, the number of elastin layers in aortic walls of 5 different segments were compared in fetuses of varying ages. Aldehyde fuchsin stained slides of elastin ascending aortas showed a range between 27 and 55 layers of elastin in fetuses of 8 weeks to 32 weeks. However, in the lower abdominal aortas, elastin layers decreased from 28 to only 3 layers for fetuses of the same age. Furthermore, as elastin layers decreased from ascending aorta to abdominal aorta with the progression of fetal life, similar changes in the elastin lamellae were observed. These results suggest that while aortas grow rapidly in length, the medial elastin thickens slowly, perhaps due to slow development of hydrodynamic forces and pressures. Also the adventitial elastin appears to lose out gradually along the length from ascending aorta to abdominal aorta.
Aorta/*embryology/metabolism/ultrastructure ; Elastin/*metabolism ; Fetus/anatomy & histology/*metabolism/physiology ; Human

PURPOSE: Since the report of artificial dermis manufacturing method using collagen by Yannas in 1980, collagen has been effectively used as dermal substitute with its merits such as, lower antigeneicity, controllable biodegradation rate, and minimal inflammatory cytotoxic properties in the dermal tissue engineering field. However, weak mechanical durability was the main drawback of collagen dermal substitute. To improve its stability, mechanical or chemical cross-linking was used. Despite of such process, its clinical use was restricted due to weak durability. To improve the durability of collagen matrix, we designed elastin-incorporated collagen matrix and compared its durability with conventional collagen matrix. METHODS: 15mm diameter with 4mm thick collagen dermal matrix was made according to Yannas protocol by mixing 0.5% bovine collagen and chondroitin-6- sulfate followed by degassing, freeze drying, dehydrodermal cross-linking and chemical cross-linking procedure. In elastin incorporated collagen matrix, same procedure was performed by mixing elastin to previous collagen matrix in 4:1 ratio(collagen 80% elastin 20%). In comparison of the two dermal matrix in vitro tests, matrix contracture rate, strain, tensile strength, was measured and stiffness was calculated from comparative analysis. RESULTS: In terms of matrix contracture, the elastin- incorperated added collagen dermis matrix showed 1.2 times more contraction compared to conventional collagen matrix. However, tensile strength showed 1.6 times and stiffness showed 1.6 times increase in elastin- incorporated matrix. CONCLUSION: Elastin incorperated collagen matrix manufactured by our team showed increased durability due to improvement in tensile strength and stiffness compared to previous collagen matrix(Integra(R)).
Collagen ; Contracts ; Contracture ; Dermis ; Elastin ; Freeze Drying ; Sprains and Strains ; Tensile Strength ; Tissue Engineering

Williams syndrome was first reported in 1961, it is characterized by distinct facial changes, growth deficiency, mental retardation, congenital heart defect (particularly the supravalvular aortic stenosis), associated at times with infantile hypercalcemia. The diagnosis of this disease relied on phenotype, after recent acknowledgement of its genetic basis on the 7th chromosomal locus q11.23 involving elastin gene on the PCR. Recently, commercial probe of elastin gene for FISH was supplied and diagnosed this disease easier. Using PCR has some benefits concerning whether the origin of the genetic defect is maternal or paternal. The diagnosis of this disease is difficult due to low sensitivity, below 50%. But FISH is widely used because it is faster with high positive predictibility. We report Williams syndrome diagnosed by FISH with a brief review and related literatures.
Diagnosis ; Elastin ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Hypercalcemia ; Intellectual Disability ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Williams Syndrome*

BACKGROUND: The reconstruction of large skin and soft tissue defects on the lower extremities is challenging. The skin graft is a simple and frequently used method for covering a skin defect. However, poor skin quality and architecture are well-known problems that lead to scar contracture. The collagen-elastin matrix, Matriderm, has been used to improve the quality of skin grafts; however, no statistical and objective review of the results has been reported. METHODS: Thirty-four patients (23 male and 11 female) who previously received a skin graft and simultaneous application of Matriderm between January 2010 and June 2012 were included in this study. The quality of the skin graft was evaluated using Cutometer, occasionally accompanied by pathologic findings. RESULTS: All 34 patients showed good skin quality compared to a traditional skin graft and were satisfied with their results. The statistical data for the measurement of the mechanical properties of the skin were similar to those for normal skin. In addition, there was no change in the engraftment rate. CONCLUSIONS: The biggest problem of a traditional skin graft is scar contracture. However, the dermal matrix presents an improvement in skin quality with elastin and collagen. Therefore, a skin graft along with a simultaneous application of Matriderm is safe and effective and leads to a significantly better outcome from the perspective of skin elasticity.
Cicatrix ; Collagen ; Contracture ; Elasticity ; Elastin ; Humans ; Lower Extremity* ; Male ; Skin Transplantation ; Skin* ; Transplants*