Crosslinked elastin and process for producing the same

#This application claims priority from Application Serial No. 2001-163,505, Filed on May 30, 2001 in Japan. This application also claims priority from PCT International Patent Application No. PCT/JP02/05275, Filed on May 30, 2002 and published on Dec. 5, 2002 as WO 02/096978 A1. The contents of the preceeding applications are incorporated herein by reference as fully set forth herein for all purposes.

#The present invention relates to a biocompatible functional material, and to its production process, medical instruments, crosslinking agents, surgical therapy methods and regeneration tissue.

#One method used to treat patients with severed nerve tissue resulting from accidents, disasters and other causes has been to ligate tubes made of artificial materials to the site of nerve deficiency to induce regeneration of nerve tissue in the tube. The tubes used have interiors of silicone, polyurethane, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, alginic acid, polylactic acid or the like, coated with a cell adhesion protein such as collagen or laminin.

#The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.

#FIG. 1 is an electron micrograph of the crosslinked elastin of the invention according to Example 8 (25° C. reaction).

#FIG. 2 is an electron micrograph of the crosslinked elastin of the invention according to Example 9 (50° C. reaction).

#The water-soluble elastin used for the invention is not particularly restricted and may be obtained by hydrolysis. Specifically, there may be used at least one type of elastin selected from among α-elastin or β-elastin obtained by hot oxalic acid treatment of animal cervical ligament or the like, K-elastin obtained by alkali ethanol treatment of elastin, water-soluble elastin obtained by enzyme treatment with elastase, and tropoelastin which is the precursor in the elastin biosynthesis pathway. There are no particular restrictions on tropoelastin, and it may be any one or more types from among extracts from animal cells and tropoelastin gene products obtained by gene recombination.

#Elastin is an elastic protein normally found in the body, and abundantly found in body tissues which require elasticity, such as arteries and vocal cords. Elastin present in the body is water-insoluble due to a high content of hydrophobic amino acids and rigid crosslinked structures such as desmosine and isodesmosine. Such elastin exhibits an elastic property as a result of unique structures known as “oiled coils” created by the crosslinking.

#The crosslinked elastin of the present invention may be obtained by using a water-soluble crosslinking agent to crosslink one or more types of water-soluble elastin rendered water-soluble by degradation of the crosslinked structure of biogenic elastin. Molded elastin articles of the invention may be obtained by combining the aforementioned water-soluble elastin and water-soluble crosslinking agent to prepare a water-soluble aqueous elastin solution, and then casting it onto a molding template or the like, heating and so forth to accomplish crosslinking.