Read this CrystEngComm HOT article by Gower et al. for FREE until 7th February 2011
A multinational team of scientists have demonstrated that biogenic collagen scaffolds obtained from turkey tendon, which consist of densely packed and oriented collagen fibrils, can also be mineralized by a polymer-induced liquid-precursor (PILP) process.
Synthetic collagen scaffolds have previously been used to demonstrate that intrafibrillar mineralization can be achieved with the PILP process which enables the unique nanostructured architecture of bone to be reproduced in vitro.
Turkey tendon is an excellent model of secondary bone formation because it mineralizes in response to increased stresses from the weight of the growing bird. The collagen is directly mineralized, leading to a collagen–mineral phase that resembles secondary bone.
Sang Soo Jee, Rajendra Kumar Kasinath, Elaine DiMasi, Yi-Yeoun Kimae and Laurie Gower
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00605J, Paper
