Elastic fibers (or yellow fibers) are an essential component of the extracellular matrix composed of bundles of proteins (elastin) which are produced by a number of different cell types including fibroblasts, endothelial, smooth muscle, and airway epithelial cells.

[8][9][10] These particles then fuse to give rise to 1-2 micron spherules which continue to grow as they move down from the cells surface before being deposited onto fibrillin microfibrillar scaffolds.

[1] These two families of enzymes react with the many lysine residues present in tropoelastin to form reactive aldehydes and allysine via oxidative deamination.

The permanganate-bisulfite-toluidine blue reaction is a highly selective and sensitive method for demonstrating elastic fibers under polarizing optics.

The induced birefringence demonstrates the highly ordered molecular structure of the elastin molecules in the elastic fiber.

Cutis laxa and Williams syndrome have elastic matrix defects that have been directly associated with alterations in the elastin gene.