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Nucleation hypothesis to explain how mineralization of matrices occurs in vivo
DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2014.30
Understanding the mechanism involved in the mineralization of bone within the natural bone matrix would aid research and development into better bone substitutes or prosthetics. In this review, Veis and Dorvee use the body of data available to focus on how a supersaturated calcium phosphate solution, in vitro, progresses to crystallization.
The authors consider the bone matrix, how crystallization occurs from a solution supersaturated with calcium phosphates, how polymeric additives and heterogeneous surfaces enhance the process of crystallization, how calcium and phosphate ions are delivered to the point of mineralization at the surface of the matrix and how the in vitro and in vivo situations may differ. Their analysis focuses on the roles of the SIBLING proteins, which appear to interact with collagen fibrils, and they propose a nucleation mechanism to explain how calcium and phosphate ions come together within a layer of water bound to the surface of the matrix.
Editor’s comment: The authors propose, by analogy, that SIBLING proteins may control the rate of mineralization in bone and dentin with their first-layer bound-water surfaces. Nevertheless, the specificity of crystal nucleation for the collagen fibril gap zone remains to be elucidated.
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