Mineralization in Collagen Superstructures during Bone Formation (Chu/Hsiao):
We have developed new analytical schemes to quantitatively determine the hierarchical structures of mineral/collagen composites in fish bone from simultaneously measured two-dimensional small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns by synchrotron radiations. The extracted structure parameters include the mineral dimensions and orientation, the axially projected electron density profiles and its relationship with the long period of staggered collagen molecules, the diameter of fibril, the orientation distribution of the fibril, the coherence length of the collagen molecules in the fibril. As seen, a three-dimensional structure model (the mage has a distortion aspect ratio of 20 along the lateral direction) in mineralized fibril was constructed by Dr. C. Burger to illustrate the spatial relationship between the collagen molecules and apatite crystals in the mineralized fibril. This is a collaborative project with Dr. Melvin Glimcher at the Children Hospital, Harvard medical School.