Purification of elastin
Purification of the highly stable and insoluble cross-linked elastin was performed grossly by solubilization and removal of all other proteins.
The tissue samples were processed following the procedure of Ritz-Timme et al. [28], which, in brief, includes the following steps: specimens were washed in 15% NaCl/protease inhibitor solution overnight, defatted in ethanol/ether for 15 min, again washed in excess aqua dest. (each step at 4°C), then freeze-dried overnight and stored at −20°C before further purification. The tissue samples were weighed and suspended in formic acid (5 ml per 100 mg tissue) containing excess CNBr (200 mg in 10 ml of 98% formic acid) and shaken at room temperature for 5 h. After