Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Habelitz, Stefan
• Ford, Dustin
• Marshall, Sally J.
• DenBesten, Pamela K.
• Balooch, Mehdi
• Marshall, Grayson W.
• Li, Wu

Titel

Amelogenin Induces Biomimetic Mineralization at Specific pH

Ist Teil von

• MRS proceedings, 2003, Vol.774, Article O7.8

Ort / Verlag

New York, USA: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2003

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Amelogenin proteins are assumed to control the calcification of dental enamel with a nanoscale precision that facilitates the formation of fibrous apatite crystals organized in a remarkable microstucture. In this study, recombinant full-length human amelogenin induced protein-guided mineralization and the formation of an enamel-like composite material at specific physical-chemical conditions as observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Amelogenin bound specifically to fluoroapatite crystals (FAP) of a glass-ceramic substrate at Ca2+ and PO4 3- concentrations similar to in-vivo conditions and at pH 8. Layers up to 400 nm high, containing elongated crystals, formed on the (001)-planes of FAP within 24h in supersaturated solutions. In contrast, (hk0)-faces grew by only 10-30 nm, but showed nanospheres aligned parallel to the c-axis of FAP. At pHs different from 8, proteins bound non-specifically to substrate and layers on FAP reached only 5-15 nm thickness. Micro-Raman spectroscopy and AFM revealed the formation of a composite material that resembled a structure and composition comparable to human enamel. These observations suggest that certain conditions are required to activate amelogenin to control and promote crystal growth of apatite along the c-axis and to synthesize an enamel-like material.