Xu, Y orcid.org/0000-0001-5180-8892, Nudelman, F, Eren, ED et al. (13 more authors) (2020) Intermolecular channels direct crystal orientation in mineralized collagen. Nature Communications, 11. 5068. ISSN 2041-1723
Abstract
The mineralized collagen fibril is the basic building block of bone, and is commonly pictured as a parallel array of ultrathin carbonated hydroxyapatite (HAp) platelets distributed throughout the collagen. This orientation is often attributed to an epitaxial relationship between the HAp and collagen molecules inside 2D voids within the fibril. Although recent studies have questioned this model, the structural relationship between the collagen matrix and HAp, and the mechanisms by which collagen directs mineralization remain unclear. Here, we use XRD to reveal that the voids in the collagen are in fact cylindrical pores with diameters of ~2 nm, while electron microscopy shows that the HAp crystals in bone are only uniaxially oriented with respect to the collagen. From in vitro mineralization studies with HAp, CaCO3 and γ-FeOOH we conclude that confinement within these pores, together with the anisotropic growth of HAp, dictates the orientation of HAp crystals within the collagen fibril.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2020. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Sep 2020 11:03 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:24 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Research |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41467-020-18846-2 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:165060 |