title: Diatom-inspired skeletonisation of insulin - Mechanistic insights into crystallisation and extracellular bioactivity.
abstract: In this paper, we encage insulin within calcium carbonate by means of a biomineralisation process. We find that both dogbone and crossbone morphologies develop during the crystallisation process. The crystals break down into small nanocrystals after prolonged immersion in phosphate buffer solution, which adhere extracellularly to mammalian cells without causing any observable damage or early cell-death. The mechanisms behind calcium carbonate encaging of single insulin monomers are detailed. This communication elucidates a novel, diatom-inspired approach to the mineral skeletonisation of insulin.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Paper Coating and Converting, Centre for Functional Materials, Abo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500 Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Diosángeles Soto
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Véliz
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Science Research, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Catharina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Paper Coating and Converting, Centre for Functional Materials, Abo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500 Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Thiago
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nietzel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Paper Coating and Converting, Centre for Functional Materials, Abo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500 Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wyborski
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Adolfo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rivero-Müller
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Paper Coating and Converting, Centre for Functional Materials, Abo Akademi University, Porthaninkatu 3, 20500 Turku, Finland. Electronic address: parvez.alam@abo.fi.
authors.forename: Parvez
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alam
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization; D017377:Diatoms / Q000502:physiology*; D007328:Insulin / Q000502:physiology*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin
keywords: Calcium carbonate; Crystallisation; Diabetes; Diatom; Direct encapsulation; Insulin