title: Bone resembling apatite by amorphous-to-crystalline transition driven self-organisation.
abstract: Calcium apatite is the main inorganic constituent of mammalian hard tissues such as bones and teeth. Its formation in vivo is likely to be preceded by a transient amorphous phase. If so, the amorphous-to-crystalline transition would have some crucial role in the biomineralisation process. To investigate this possibility, a two-step biomimetic experiment was designed. First, a stable amorphous calcium apatite precursor was synthesized in simulated body fluid (SBF) and was then transformed into a low crystalline apatite. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, vacuum FTIR, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and N(2) adsorption measurements were used to characterise both the precursor and the apatite. The latter exhibits numerous bone-like features including lack of OH, nanometer size, low crystallinity, etc. An amorphous-to-crystalline transition driven self-organisation is observed. The amorphous precursor seems to be the essential step for the creation of bone resembling apatite.
authors.affiliation: Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria. ya.pekounov@gmail.com
authors.forename: Yassen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pekounov
authors.forename: Ognyan E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Petrov
mesh_terms: D001031:Apatites / Q000737:chemistry*; D040761:Biomimetic Materials; D018786:Bone Substitutes; D001842:Bone and Bones; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D001031:Apatites; D018786:Bone Substitutes; D010758:Phosphorus; D002118:Calcium