The effect of type 1 diabetes on the structure and function of fibrillin microfibrils

R. Akhtar, J. K. Cruickshank, N. J. Gardiner, B. Derby, M. J. Sherratt

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    In both Type 1 and 2 diabetes tissue stiffening is evident from measurements of the gross mechanical properties of the vasculature. Whilst composite elastic fibres play an important role in mediating vascular elasticity in healthy individuals, the effects of diabetes on the structure and function of individual elastic fibre components remains poorly defined. Fibrillin microfibrils, which are key structural elements of the elastic fibre system, have a unique 'beads-on-a-string' morphology and a mean periodicity of approximately 56 nm. In this study, we have characterised the effects of experimentally induced Type I diabetes on the structure of microfibrils isolated from rat aorta. Microfibril length and periodicity were quantified from atomic force microscopy (AFM) images. Although mere was no significant difference in mean microfibril length between healthy and diabetic animals (control 23.2 repeats, SEM 6.2 repeats: diabetic 23.6 repeats, SEM 6.1 repeats: Mann Whitney U-test, p=0.391), mean periodicity was significantly reduced in microfibrils isolated from me diabetic rats (52.7 nm, SEM 0.4 nm) compared with age-matched controls (59.5 nm, SEM 0.4 nm) (p
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)57-61
    Number of pages4
    JournalMaterials Research Society Symposium Proceedings
    Volume1274
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

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