help button home button Biophys. J.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Originally published as Biophys J. BioFAST on March 21, 2008.
doi:10.1529/biophysj.107.128355
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplement
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
biophysj.107.128355v1
95/4/1985    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Burger, C.
Right arrow Articles by Glimcher, M. J.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Burger, C.
Right arrow Articles by Glimcher, M. J.
Biophysical Journal 95:1985-1992 (2008)
© 2008 The Biophysical Society

Lateral Packing of Mineral Crystals in Bone Collagen Fibrils

Christian Burger *, Hong-wen Zhou *, Hao Wang {dagger}, Igors Sics *, Benjamin S. Hsiao *, Benjamin Chu *, Lila Graham {dagger} and Melvin J. Glimcher {dagger}

* Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York; and {dagger} Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Benjamin S. Hsiao, E-mail: bhsiao{at}notes.cc.sunysb.edu; or to Benjamin Chu, E-mail: bchu{at}notes.cc.sunysb.edu; or Melvin J. Glimcher, E-mail: melvin.glimcher{at}childrens.harvard.edu.

Combined small-angle x-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy studies of intramuscular fish bone (shad and herring) indicate that the lateral packing of nanoscale calcium-phosphate crystals in collagen fibrils can be represented by irregular stacks of platelet-shaped crystals, intercalated with organic layers of collagen molecules. The scattering intensity distribution in this system can be described by a modified Zernike-Prins model, taking preferred orientation effects into account. Using the model, the diffuse fan-shaped small-angle x-ray scattering intensity profile, dominating the equatorial region of the scattering pattern, could be quantitatively analyzed as a function of the degree of mineralization. The mineral platelets were found to be very thin (1.5 nm ~ 2.0 nm), having a narrow thickness distribution. The thickness of the organic layers between adjacent mineral platelets within a stack is more broadly distributed with the average value varying from 6 nm to 10 nm, depending on the extent of mineralization. The two-dimensional analytical scheme also leads to quantitative information about the preferred orientation of mineral stacks and the average height of crystals along the crystallographic c axis.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2008 by the Biophysical Society.