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HRTEM Study of Biological Crystal Growth Mechanisms in the Vicinity of Implanted Synthetic Hydroxyapatite Crystals

Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, Unite 424, Federation de Recherches Odontologie, 11, rue Humann, 67085 Strasbourg France

F.J.G. Cuisinier

Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, Unite 424, Federation de Recherches Odontologie, 11, rue Humann, 67085 Strasbourg France

P. Schultz

Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, 1 rue Laurent Fries, 67404 Illkirch, France

J.-C. Voegel

Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, Unite 424, Federation de Recherches Odontologie, 11, rue Humann, 67085 Strasbourg France

Calcium phosphates are widely used as biomaterials. Ultrastructural assessments are of the utmost importance in our understanding of interfacial phenomena. The aim of this study was to learn more about the newly formed crystal growth mechanisms. The interfaces between implanted synthetic hydroxyapatite crystals (HAS) and newly formed crystallites were thoroughly examined on a molecular level. The bone-grafting material (HAS) was implanted into two adult patients, and small biopsies were recovered 6 months after implantation. The raw biomaterial was analyzed by x-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Six months after their implantation, the HAS aggregates were surrounded by a mineralized bone matrix. Tiny crystallites also filled the spaces between the HAS crystals within the aggregates. These newly formed crystallites growing at the surfaces of the implanted HAS crystals appeared to be apatitic. The crystallographic investigations of the nucleation and growing mechanisms of the newly formed crystallites were performed by HRTEM in association with computer simulation and mathematical processing of digitized images. A relationship was noted between the orientation axes of crystallites growing nearby and the zone axes of the implanted HAS, thus strongly suggesting a guiding or substratum role of the HAS particles.

Key Words: hydroxyapatite • bone-graftin • , high-resolution TEM • hydroxyapatite/bone interface • crystal growth. Received November 6, 1995; Accepted September 13,1996

Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 76, No. 2, 682-687 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/00220345970760020901


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