Hunter, Luke;
Torii, Ryo;
Burriesci, Gaetano;
Bertazzo, Sergio;
(2025)
Whitlockite can be a substrate for apatite growth in simulated body fluid.
Materialia
, 40
, Article 102409. 10.1016/j.mtla.2025.102409.
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Abstract
Calcium phosphates are the predominant type of mineral in humans. They are essential for the formation of bones and teeth but can also deposit in diseased tissues. Whitlockite, a calcium phosphate mineral, is almost exclusively found in diseased calcified lesions. Despite its significance, the crystal growth mechanisms of whitlockite under physiological conditions are poorly understood. To investigate this, we conducted a constant composition experiment and applied a growth kinetics model to study the growth of whitlockite and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in simulated body fluid. Contrary to our expectations, whitlockite did not dissolve in the undersaturated simulated body fluid. Instead, whitlockite nanoparticles served as a substrate for the formation of poorly-crystalline apatite, resulting in increased particle size. Our findings may help explain the colocalisation of whitlockite particles and large poorly-crystalline apatite lesions in human diseases.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Whitlockite can be a substrate for apatite growth in simulated body fluid |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.mtla.2025.102409 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2025.102409 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Biomineralisation; Calcification; Phase transformations; Crystallisation; SBF |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Med Phys and Biomedical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207564 |
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