Discerning the subfibrillar structure of mineralized collagen fibrils: a model for the ultrastructure of bone
Publication date
2013ISSN
1932-6203
Abstract
Biomineralization templated by organic molecules to produce inorganic-organic nanocomposites is a fascinating example of nature using bottom-up strategies at nanoscale to accomplish highly ordered multifunctional materials. One such nanocomposite is bone, composed primarily of hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocrystals that are embedded within collagen fibrils with their c-axes arranged roughly parallel to the long axis of the fibrils. Here we discern the ultra-structure of biomimetic mineralized collagen fibrils (MCFs) as consisting of bundles of subfibrils with approximately 10 nm diameter; each one with an organic-inorganic core-shell structure. Through an amorphous calcium phosphate precursor phase the HA nanocrystals were specifically grown along the longitudinal direction of the collagen microfibrils and encapsulated them within the crystal lattice. They intercalated throughout the collagen fibrils such that the mineral phase surrounded the surface of collagen microfibrils forming an interdigitated network. It appears that this arrangement of collagen microfibrils in collagen fibrils is responsible for the observed ultrastructure. Such a subfibrillar nanostructure in MCFs was identified in both synthetic and natural bone, suggesting this is the basic building block of collagen-based hard tissues. Insights into the ultrastructure of mineralized collagen fibrils have the potential to advance our understanding on the biomineralization principles and the relationship between bone’s structure and mechanical properties, including fracture toughness mechanisms. We anticipate that these principles from biological systems can be applied to the rational design of new nanocomposites with improved performance.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
616.3 - Pathology of the digestive system. Complaints of the alimentary canal
Keywords
Odontologia
Odontología
Dentistry
Pages
12
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Collection
8; 9
Is part of
PLoS ONE
Citation
Li, Yuping; Aparicio, Conrado. Discerning the subfibrillar structure of mineralized collagen fibrils: a model for the ultrastructure of bone. PLoS One, 2013, 8(9), e76782. Disponible en: <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0076782>. Fecha de acceso: 19 abr. 2023. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076782
Link to the related item
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Odontologia [245]
Rights
© 2013 Li et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/