Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 110, Issue 16, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.168101
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [DMR 1006194, CMMI 1100339, CAREER CMMI 0954825, CMMI 1100791]
- UIF Fellowship from the Center for Nanotechnology, University of Washington
- Royalty Research Fund
- NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship [11-NSTRF11-0323]
- National Institutes of Health [HL098028]
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn [1100339] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn
- Directorate For Engineering [1100791] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Elastin is an intriguing extracellular matrix protein present in all connective tissues of vertebrates, rendering essential elasticity to connective tissues subjected to repeated physiological stresses. Using piezoresponse force microscopy, we show that the polarity of aortic elastin is switchable by an electrical field, which may be associated with the recently discovered biological ferroelectricity in the aorta. More interestingly, it is discovered that the switching in aortic elastin is largely suppressed by glucose treatment, which appears to freeze the internal asymmetric polar structures of elastin, making it much harder to switch, or suppressing the switching completely. Such loss of ferroelectricity could have important physiological and pathological implications from aging to arteriosclerosis that are closely related to glycation of elastin. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.168101
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