engleski

The complex architecture of bioinorganic aragonite produced by marine invertebrates: nanoscale organization of the cuttlebone

Biominerals in marine invertebrates like corals or bivalves mainly serve as a mechanical protection. The cuttlebone of the cuttlefish provides a physical shield but owing to the complex structure, its purpose is regulation of buoyancy. This is achieved with the creation of highly porous lamellar chambers build up from aragonitic pillars that are surrounded with an organic sheet and divided by a septal wall. The process of biomineral formation is governed by the organic matrix that provides a template for mineral nucleation and growth, determines the type of carbonate polymorphs and tunes biomineral properties like stiffness and porosity. In order to define the nano-architecture of the Sepia officinalis cuttlebone, techniques like field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and protein analysis (SDS-PAGE) were used. The comparison of this nano-architecture with biominerals from other mollusks and corals (1-4) confirms the importance of nanoscale aggregation processes in the formation of hierarchically structured biomaterials. References: [1] I. Sondi, B. Salopek – Sondi, S. D. Škapin, S. Šegota, I. Jurina and B. Vukelić, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 354, (2011), p. 181 [2] I. Sondi, S.D. Škapin, I. Jurina and D. Slovenec, Geologia Croatica 64/1 (2011), p. 61. [3] I. Sondi and S. D. Škapin in “Biomimetics, Learning from Nature”, ed. Amitava Mukherjee (InTech, Viena) (2010), p. 241. [4] F. Marin, N. Le Roy and B. Marie, Frontiers in Bioscience S4/1(2012), p. 1099.

Biomineralization; cuttlebone; aragonite; nano-scale

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