Abstract
Bone crystallite chemistry and structure change during bone maturation. However, these properties of bone can also be affected by limited uptake of the chemical constituents of the mineral by the animal. This makes probing the effect of bone-mineralization-related diseases a complicated task. Here it is shown that the combination of vibrational spectroscopy with two-dimensional X-ray diffraction can provide unparalleled information on the changes in bone chemistry and structure associated with different bone pathologies (phosphate deficiency) and/or health conditions (pregnancy, lactation). Using a synergistic analytical approach, it was possible to trace the effect that changes in the remodelling regime have on the bone mineral chemistry and structure in normal and mineral-deficient (hypophosphatemic) mice. The results indicate that hypophosphatemic mice have increased bone remodelling, increased carbonate content and decreased crystallinity of the bone mineral, as well as increased misalignment of crystallites within the bone tissue. Pregnant and lactating mice that are normal and hypophosphatemic showed changes in the chemistry and misalignment of the apatite crystals that can be related to changes in remodelling rates associated with different calcium demand during pregnancy and lactation.
Highlights
Bone is a complex inorganic–organic hybrid material, comprising nano-sized carbonate apatite crystals mineralizing a collagen matrix
Previous vibrational spectroscopy work on rabbit bones has shown that younger animals have a lower carbonate content within the mineral structure of the crystallites (Turunen et al, 2011)
A synergistic approach to characterizing bone that unites 2DXRD and vibrational spectroscopy has provided an unparalleled insight into the changes in bone mineral structure and chemistry associated with changes in the rate of bone remodelling and deficient mineralization
Summary
Bone is a complex inorganic–organic hybrid material, comprising nano-sized carbonate apatite crystals mineralizing a collagen matrix. Lower Ca, and phosphate, absorption in mice with a phenotype of XLH (HYP mice) has been shown to correlate with higher carbonate content in the bone (Macica et al, 2016) and dentine (Amenta et al, 2018) minerals. These changes become more evident in bone during conditions of high calcium demand, such as pregnancy or lactation, during which bone remodelling increases to meet increasing calcium demand (Macica et al, 2016)
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