The biosynthesis of elastin by an aortic medial cell culture.

A long term culture of aortic medial cells, derived from newborn pig aorta, has been established. The ability of these cells to synthesize soluble elastin has been demonstrated by isolation and characterization of the radioactively labeled protein, using soluble elastin of copper-deficient pig aorta as the carrier. The synthesis of corsslinked elastin was shown by the isolation and identification of the lysine-derived crosslinks after incubating the cultures with [14C]-labeled lysine. The precursor relationship of soluble to insoluble elastin was demonstrated by incubating the [3H]-labeled soluble elastin from copper-deficient pig aorta with the culture and isolating labeled crosslinks from the insoluble elastin residue.