Salt-soluble collagen and elastin in the human aorta and pulmonary artery

Collagen and elastin, the major structural components of blood vessels, have a very low turnover. In disease, this rate may be increased and an elevation of the tissue concentration of the soluble degradation fragments might be anticipated. In this preliminary study the concentration of extractable collagen and elastin in the aorta and pulmonary artery of eight human subjects postmortem was determined. The proportion of pulmonary artery collagen and elastin that was soluble was generally either equal to or greater than that in the abdominal aorta. The fraction of collagen that was salt extractable was larger than the soluble elastin fraction.