Stimulation of cell proliferation and autoregulation of elastin expression by elastin peptide VPGVG in cultured chick vascular smooth muscle cells

Synthetic elastin peptides, VPGVG or its polymer (VPGVG) n , enhanced the proliferation of smooth muscle cells 1.5-fold during 48 h treatment at the concetrations over 10 −6 M or 1.0 μg/ml, respectively. Monomeric and polymeric VPGVG sequences reduced elastin synthesis and its mRNA level to one-third and one-half of control respectively under the conditions in which the proliferation of cells were enhanced, but did not change collagen synthesis as measured by bacterial collagenase digestion. The elastin-specific autoregulation by elastin fragments may reflect the feedback regulation of elastin expression which may play an essential role in elastin metabolism under the normal and diseased conditions.