Mutations in the tropoelastin gene (ELN) were not found in patients with spontaneous cervical artery dissections.

Background And Purpose: The majority of patients with spontaneous cerebral artery dissection show ultrastructural alterations in dermal collagen and elastic fibers.

Methods: We studied the gene encoding tropoelastin (ELN) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and subsequent sequence analysis in 10 patients with abnormalities in their elastic fibers.

Results: No mutations were found in the whole coding region of the ELN gene.