The inhibitory effects of ATP, ADP, and AMP on the rate of dissolution of calcium hydroxyapatite

The importance of being amorphous: calcium and magnesium phosphates in the human body

This article focuses on the relevance of amorphous calcium (and magnesium) phosphates in living organisms. Although crystalline calcium phosphate (CaP)-based materials are known to constitute the major inorganic constituents of human hard tissues, amorphous CaP-based structures, often in combination with magnesium, are frequently employed by Nature to build up components of our body and guarantee their proper functioning. After a brief description of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) formation mechanism and structure, this paper is focused on the stabilization strategies that can be used to enhance the lifetime of the poorly stable amorphous phase. The various locations of our body in which ACP (pure or in combination with Mg²⁺) can be found (i.e. bone, enamel, small intestine, calciprotein particles and casein micelles) are highlighted, showing how the amorphous nature of ACP is often of paramount importance for the achievement of a specific physiological function. The last section is devoted to ACP-based biomaterials, focusing on how these materials differ from their crystalline counterparts in terms of biological response.

Organoapatites: materials for artificial bone. I. Synthesis and microstructure

We have synthesized a new family of materials we termed organoapatites which may be useful in the formulation of artificial bone. These materials are synthesized by nucleation and growth of apatite crystals in media containing poly(amino acids) or synthetic organic polyelectrolytes using strict atmospheric, temperature, and pH control. The macromolecules used to synthesize the organoapatites include poly(L-lysine), poly(L-glutamic acid), and poly(sodium acrylate). The products were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, surface area measurements, elemental analysis, and spectroscopic techniques. Organoapatites were found to contain large surface area morphologies with small crystallites which mature slowly based on analysis of Ca/P ratios. The organic macromolecules are thought to induce nucleation of crystals but also to quench their growth, thus becoming intimately dispersed in a mineral network. The organomineral particles harvested from the reaction medium contain polymer-netted microcrystals, and for this reason the synthetic approach can be used to modulate crystal maturation and biological response. It is likely that the preparative approach mimics some aspects of natural bone matrix synthesis and could be specially useful in the preparation of mineral implants containing intimate dispersions of small amounts of biomolecules such as growth factors, special drugs, or bioadhesives.

Interaction of cadmium ions with calcium hydroxyapatite crystals: a possible mechanism contributing to the pathogenesis of cadmium-induced bone diseases

Cadmium ions adsorb onto calcium hydroxyapatite crystals (HA) and are as effective as inorganic pyrophosphate and aluminum ions in retarding the rate of in vitro dissolution of HA. In contrast, cadmium ions have no important retarding effect on the growth of HA, but are built into the crystals, thus making them very resistant to subsequent dissolution. These effects could interfere with bone remodeling, with cadmium protecting normal sites of resorption and thus causing resorption at pathological sites.

Calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate capacities of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum

Both oxalate-supported and phosphate-supported calcium uptake by canine cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum initially increase linearly with time but fall to a steady-state level within 20 min. The departure from linearity could be due to a decrease in influx or to an increase in efflux of calcium. Because Ca2+-ATPase activity is linear, a decrease in the influx of calcium is an unlikely cause of the non-linear calcium uptake curves. A possible cause of an increase in calcium efflux is rupture of the vesicles. This hypothesis was tested by investigating the amount of calcium which could be released upon addition of 5 mM EGTA. The amount of rapidly releasable calcium was zero until a threshold calcium uptake of about 4-6 mumol calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate per mg was reached. After that point the rapidly releasable calcium continued to increase with calcium oxalate to reach more than 23 mumol/mg, but stayed constant at about 0.7 mumol/mg for calcium phosphate. The rapidly releasable calcium was attributed to calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate crystals externalized by vesicle rupture. The differences in the amounts of rapidly releasable calcium were attributed to different kinetics of calcium phosphate and calcium oxalate dissolution. Addition of ryanodine caused a marked increase in the threshold for rapidly releasable calcium oxalate. Transmission electron micrographs showed that vesicles can become filled with calcium oxalate crystals, but the vesicles were heterogeneous with respect to their size and their sensitivity to ryanodine. These observations support the hypothesis that calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate capacities are limited by vesicle rupture and that ryanodine increases the capacity by closing a calcium channel in a subpopulation of vesicles that otherwise would not accumulate calcium.