Objectives: Large artery stiffening is a common feature of aging and is known to be coupled with ventricular stiffening. We purposed to investigate the aortic root – the largest elastic artery - wall mechanics using tissue Doppler image (TDI) in the subjects with normally functioning left ventricle (LV). Methods: We observed 301 consecutive subjects who visited our out patient department from March to May 2007. Of them, total 95 patients (51짹13 year old) who had normal LV systolic and diastolic function on the echocardiography were studied. Aortic distensibility (AD) and strain (AS) were calculated from pulse pressure measured by sphygmomanometer and the aortic diameters measured by echocardiography. Aortic wall systolic velocity (AWSV) and diastolic early (AWDV-E) and late velocity (AWDV-L) were measured using pulsed wave TDI on the upper aortic wall at 3cm from the aortic annulus. Results: Although all three aortic wall velocity indices were significantly correlated with each other, the associations with AD or AS were different. Only AWDV-E was significantly correlated with AD (r=0.344, p=0.001) and AS (r=0.291, p=0.005). In addition, the associations of aortic diameters (for systolic diameter, r=-0.233, p=0.025, for diastolic diameter, r=-0.307, p=0.003), E/E��� (r=-0.328, =0.001), relative wall thickness of LV (r=-0.284, p=0.005), and BNP level (r=-0.226, p=0.045) were also only significant with AWDV-E. E/A ratio was significantly correlated with AWDV-L (r=0.206, p=0.047) as well as AWDV-E (r=0.326, p=0.001). In two modules of multivariate analysis, age and AD (module 1) and age and AS (module 2) were independently associated with AWDV-E after common adjustment for gender, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and smoking status. AWSV and AWDV-L showed no significant relationship with age, AD or AS in multivariate analyses. Conclusions: AWDV-E using TDI in normally functioning LV was significantly associated with aortic elasticity indices and age. The findings suggest that aortic elastic properties can be directly assessed from the aortic wall movement by TDI.