Dental Apatites in in Vertebrate Species: Morphology and Chemical Properties

Abstract

The understanding of the basic mechanisms by which biological systems exert a precise control over the nature and properties (size, morphology, structural defects, and orientation) of the crystals in hard tissues, is greatly enhanced by comparative studies of mineralization processes in various species and their similarities in the evolutionary scale. It is known that carbonate and fluoride are common constituents of enameloid and enamel in vertebrate teeth [1–3] and the fluoride incorporation into fish enameloid does not reflect the fluoride concentration in environmental water and feeding habits but is related to the phylogeny of fish species [4,5]. However, little is known about the mechanism of species-dependent carbonation and fluoridation of the forming tooth mineral. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the nucleation and crystal growth of carbonated calcium apatites in various animal species and to gain an insight into the regulatory mechanism of in vivo precipitation processes, particularly in relation to fluoride.