Bone: ultrastructure, chemistry and isotopes

骨：超微结构、化学和同位素

• 批准号: 1612-2011
• 负责人: Schwarcz, Henry
• 金额: $ 2.99万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=568204
• 关键词: Bone; ultrastructure; chemistry; isotopes

Bones are built of two components, a hard calcium phosphate mineral called hydroxyapatite (HA), and a weaker protein, collagen. Knowledge of how these components are woven together in animal and human bone is important in understanding the growth and development of bone and in diseases of bone. We have discovered that most of the HA in bone is in the form of long, thin plates which surrounds and reinforce columns (fibrils) of collagen. In our research we will focus on working out the details of this pattern as it varies with age and skeletal location, and between different species. We will also delve inside these HA-rich plates to learn how they are put together, as we have also shown that they are not single crystals but rather packages of many even smaller crystals. We will also study two other aspects of bone. We have shown that citric acid is an important constituent of bone making up as much as 2% of all bones. Its function is still unknown although it is probably required to maintain the qualities of bone crystals. We will try to find how it gets into bone, where it is located, and how it functions. Citrate gradually disappears after death and burial of the bone. We have shown that we can date forensic bone samples from their citrate concentration to tell the time since death. We will try to determine how the citrate is lost and how the rate of loss varies with the conditions of burial, to broaden the applicability of this method in solving crime. Also, we will study how the ratio stable isotopes of oxygen (18O/16O) varies in bones and teeth depending on where people were living, as a way to trace migration of people, and apply this to solve problems in archaeology and forensic science. This is a concerted, multifaceted program which applies novel methods from geochemistry, mineralogy and material science to bear on the study of bone.

骨骼由两种成分组成，一种是称为羟基磷灰石（HA）的硬磷酸钙矿物质，另一种是较弱的蛋白质胶原蛋白。了解这些成分在动物和人类骨骼中是如何编织在一起的，对于理解骨骼的生长和发育以及骨骼疾病是很重要的。我们已经发现，骨中的大部分HA是以长而薄的板的形式，其包围并加强胶原柱（原纤维）。在我们的研究中，我们将专注于研究这种模式的细节，因为它随年龄和骨骼位置以及不同物种而变化。我们还将深入研究这些富含HA的板块，以了解它们是如何组合在一起的，因为我们已经证明它们不是单晶，而是许多更小晶体的包裹。我们还将研究骨骼的另外两个方面。我们已经证明，柠檬酸是骨的重要组成部分，占所有骨骼的2%。它的功能仍然是未知的，虽然它可能需要保持骨晶体的质量。我们将试图找到它是如何进入骨骼的，它位于何处，以及它如何发挥作用。柠檬酸盐在死亡和埋葬骨头后逐渐消失。我们已经证明，我们可以从柠檬酸盐浓度中确定法医骨骼样本的日期，以确定死亡时间。我们将试图确定柠檬酸盐是如何损失的，以及损失率如何随埋葬条件而变化，以扩大这种方法在解决犯罪问题上的适用性。此外，我们将研究氧的稳定同位素（18 O/16 O）的比例在骨骼和牙齿中的变化，这取决于人们居住的地方，作为追踪人们迁移的一种方法，并将其应用于解决考古学和法医学中的问题。这是一个协调一致的，多方面的计划，应用地球化学，矿物学和材料科学的新方法来研究骨骼。