Age-related changes in the level of circulating elastin-derived peptides in serum from normal and atherosclerotic...

The level of the circulating elastin-derived peptides (CEDP) in the serum is believed to reflect the activity of the degradation of the elastic structures. This paper reports a new method, based on the 'sandwich' version of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), for the detection and quantification of CEDP in human serum. By this method we investigated the age-related changes in their level among healthy subjects within the age range of 1 and 75 years and among atherosclerotic subjects aged 50 to 75 years. The highest level of CEDP was found in the serum of the atherosclerotic patients, and the lowest, among the healthy subjects between 18 and 50 years of age.