Cardiovascular determinants of plasma fibronectin in an elderly population: the EVA study.

Plasma fibronectin was determined in 1262 individuals (742 females, 520 males) aged 59-71 years at the beginning of an epidemiological study on vascular aging (the EVA study) in Nantes, western France. The average values (62.88+/-20.

Effect of L-fucose and fucose-rich polysaccharides on elastin biosynthesis, in vivo and in vitro.

With increasing age elastic fibres in human skin are progressively lysed and skin elasticity is also decreasing. Still there is an age-dependent increase of elastic fibre surface density, mostly due to an alteration of the fibres. The present experiments were undertaken to explore if L-fucose and fucose-rich polysaccharides (FROP-s) could influence elastin biosynthesis.

Effects of L-fucose and fucose-rich oligo- and polysaccharides (FROP-s) on collagen biosynthesis by human skin fibroblasts. Modulation of the effect of retinol, ascorbate and alpha-tocopherol.

The action of L-fucose and a fucose-rich oligosaccharide (FROP-3) on skin explant cultures and fibroblast cell cultures, alone or together with three vitamins (A, C, E, often used in topical preparations) was studied, using as criteria collagen accumulation and collagen and non-collagen protein biosynthesis. In order to confirm the results observed, several variants of the chemical procedure were used. Collagen accumulation in cell cultures and (3)H-proline incorporation in proteins and collagen gave comparable results.

Effect of L-fucose and fucose-rich oligo- and polysaccharides (FROP-s) on skin aging: penetration, skin tissue production and fibrillogenesis.

Skin thickness is decreasing with age. This loss concerns both dermis and epidermis, cells and extracellular matrix. We could show here that percutaneous application of an L-fucose-containing preparation produced an increase of skin thickness and a densification of collagen bundles.

Serum elastase activity, serum elastase inhibitors, and occurrence of carotid atherosclerotic plaques: the Etude sur le Vieillissement Artériel (EVA) study.

Background: In the last decades, interest has increased in the potential deleterious atherogenic effects of some cellular elastase activities. The results of experimental and clinical investigations were inconsistent. In this report, we assessed the associations of serum elastase activity and serum elastase inhibitors with carotid plaque occurrence during the 4-year follow-up in a population of 859 subjects free of coronary heart disease and stroke (age, 59 to 71 years).