Biomimetic Blades: Mincing with Less Mineral

描述（由申请人提供）： 牙釉质和牙本质是脊椎动物中最重要的硬度和耐磨性材料。这些材料的卓越性能是适当摄取营养的重要适应性，当因腐烂或损伤而受损时，对有效修复提出了许多基本和技术挑战。在多毛类蠕虫中，如Glycera和Nereis，牙齿状的颌骨具有与釉质相当的耐磨性;然而，这是通过十分之一的矿化（Glycera）或根本没有矿化（Nereis）来实现的。我们相信，这些主要是蛋白质的颌骨提供了重要的见解，生物相容性耐磨材料的设计。基于初步研究，我们建议证明，特定的蛋白质/聚合物可以硬化和增韧矿化，金属离子螯合，或两者兼而有之。我们的目标是在这个发现驱动的建议是一个国家的最先进的化学，结构和机械特性的下巴使用质谱，分子生物学，X射线分析和纳米压痕。严格的工程原理将被应用于分析颌骨，以提炼出一套关于结构和磨损之间关系的仿生规则。化学，微观结构和机械性能之间的显着相关性将被用来指导含组氨酸的共聚物制备成含有铜或锌离子的硬膜。这项研究的主要健康益处将是对具有上级硬度和耐磨性的轻质替代材料的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Tooth enamel and dentin are the premier materials in vertebrates for hardness and abrasion resistance. The superb properties of these materials are vital adaptations for proper ingestion nutrition and, when compromised through decay or injury, pose many fundamental and technical challenges to effective restoration. In polychaete worms such as Glycera and Nereis, the tooth-like jaws have a resistance to wear that is comparable to enamel; however, this is accomplished with a tenth as much mineralization (Glycera) or no mineralization at all (Nereis). We believe that these mainly proteinaceous jaws offer important insights into the design of biocompatible wear-resistant materials. Based on preliminary studies, we propose to demonstrate that specific proteins/polymers can be hardened and toughened by mineralization, metal ion chelation, or both. Our aim in this discovery-driven proposal is a state-of-the-art chemical, structural and mechanical characterization of the jaws using mass spectrometry, molecular biology, X-ray analysis and nanoindentation. Rigorous engineering principles will be applied to the analysis of jaws to distill a set of biomimetic rules regarding the relationship between structure and wear. Significant correlations between the chemical, microstructural and mechanical properties will be used to direct the preparation of His-containing copolymers into hard films containing Cu or Zn ions. The chief health benefits of this research will be insights about lightweight replacement materials with superior hardness and abrasion resistance.