Effect of water on the molecular mobility of elastin

Purified and hydrated elastin is studied by both thermal and dielectric techniques to have insight into the chain dynamics of this protein. By differential scanning calorimetry, the glassy behavior of elastin is highlighted; the glass transition temperature (T(g)) of elastin is found to be widely dependent on hydration, falling from 200 degrees C in the dehydrated state to 30 degrees C for 30% hydration. A limit of T(g) at around 0 degrees C is found when crystallizable water is present in the system, that is, when the formation of ice prevents motions of some 10 nm along the polypeptidic chains. The technique of thermally stimulated currents, carried out in the -180 to 0 degrees C temperature range, is useful to detect localized motions. In this case, too, the localized motions vary considerably according to hydration: a first relaxation mode is observed at -145 degrees C and it is associated with the reorientation of crystallizable water in ice I; a second relaxation mode, more complex and cooperative, occurs at around -80 degrees C and could be attributed to the complex constituted by the dipolar groups of the polypeptidic chain and noncrystallizable water, behaving as a glassy system.