Connective Tissue: Elastin

Elastic fibres are made up of elastin and microfibrils which are made up of a mixture of elastin and glycoproteins, including fibrillin.

Elastin is made from its soluble precursor, tropoelastin. Tropoelastin is secreted from the cell, and elastin fibres are assembled close to the extracellular surface of the cell, onto a scaffold of microfibrils.

The elastin fibres are very pale staining, because elastin is an amorphous protein.

If it is not made into fibres, it can also form fenestrated sheets called elastic laminae.

an elastic fibre

In Marfan’s syndrome, there are mutations in the fibrillin gene, which affects tissues rich in elastic fibres, such as the wall of the aorta. This means that the aorta is more prone to rupture.

This is a picture of elastic cartilage.
The cells are chondrocytes, and they are embedded in a matrix, rich with fibres, that are mostly elastic fibres