Abstract P172: Is the Elastin Receptor Complex a Bridge Between Perivascular Adipose Tissue and the Artery?

Elastin is a metabolically stable structural protein with a half-life known to last nearly a lifetime. This supporting peptide is essential for the artery to withstand the repetitive forces of pulsation. Vascular pathology and remodeling cause damage to this critical support system releasing elastin-derived peptides known as elastokines. Elastokines stimulate the Elastin Receptor Complex (ERC) via an Elastin Binding Peptide(EBP). We investigate the hypothesis that the EBP is present within perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), providing a form of vessel-to-PVAT communication. Immunohistochemistry techniques were used to identify EBP and Neuraminidase-1, components of the ERC, in rat arteries. Additionally, mesenteric resistance vessel PVAT was isolated into adipocytes and stromal vascular fraction for determining the presence of GLB1 mRNA, encoding the EBP. GLB1 mRNA was observed in adipocytes and stromal vascular fraction respectively 2 -delta Ct 0.0220±0.00130 and 0.0237±0.00192 (N=5). EBP and Neuraminidase-1 immunofluorescently colocalized in vasculature and surrounding PVAT (figure 1, representative of N=5, scale bar 50μm). The EBP agonist VGVAPG [10 μM] (N=7) relaxed the isolated aorta to 65.8±1.67% of a half-maximal phenylephrine contraction. These results support the presence of the ERC in arteries, that PVAT may not be necessary for ERC activation, and that elastin may have multiple functions.