School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences G08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Micron. 2010 Apr;41(3):268-72. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2009.11.003. Epub 2009 Nov 17.
Synthetic human tropoelastin was chemically cross-linked to form elastic hydrogel-like structures in vitro. Discrete stages were identified during elastic hydrogel formation by cross-linking tropoelastin with bis(sulfosuccinimidyl) suberate at a range of protein concentrations during this process. In the early stages of this process, particles with the same dimensions as tropoelastin were seen. As hydrogel formation progressed, monomer width fibres were also observed. Overall, four distinct stages were identified: (1) tropoelastin monomers form discrete particles in the order of 200 nm diameter, (2) these particles merge to form larger spheres, (3) spheres coalesce into open linked networks, (4) coalesced spheres consolidate to form a porous structure to give synthetic elastin hydrogels.
合成人原弹性蛋白经化学交联后，在体外形成弹性水凝胶样结构。在这个过程中，用双（磺基琥珀酰亚胺基）丁二酸酯交联原弹性蛋白，在不同的蛋白浓度下，可在弹性水凝胶形成过程中识别出离散的阶段。在这个过程的早期阶段，可以看到与原弹性蛋白相同尺寸的颗粒。随着水凝胶的形成，也观察到单体宽度纤维。总的来说，确定了四个不同的阶段：（1）原弹性蛋白单体以直径约 200nm 的离散颗粒形式形成，（2）这些颗粒融合形成更大的球体，（3）球体融合成开放的连接网络，（4）融合的球体凝聚形成多孔结构，形成合成弹性蛋白水凝胶。
