Role of the extracellular matrix in age-related modifications of the rat aorta. Ultrastructural, morphometric, and enzymatic evaluations.

Connective tissues such as blood vessels are known to be greatly affected by age because of impaired functional properties and increased susceptibility to diseases. With the aim of providing further information on the role of the extracellular matrix in age-related modifications, we investigated the aorta in the rat model from birth to senescence by means of morphological and morphometric observations and by evaluation of lysyl oxidase activity. Results focused on the dramatic vascular rearrangements due to progressive fibrosis of the extracellular matrix and on prominent elastin modifications. The presence of lysyl oxidase activity, even in the oldest animals, might be at least partly responsible for the increased stiffness of the aging extracellular matrix. The striking age-related remodeling of the aortic architecture and the alterations of the interactions between cellular and extracellular compartments might greatly influence the functional properties of the arterial wall in senescence, at least contributing to the consequences of some apparently age-related vascular disorders.