45 research outputs found
Proteins and their peptide motifs in acellular apatite mineralization of scaffolds for tissue engineering
Many proteins in the inorganic=organic matrix of bone induce or modulate or inhibit mineralization of apatite
in vivo. Many attempts have been made to mimic and understand this mechanism as part of bone formation, and
ectopic mineralization and control thereof. Many attempts have also been made to use such proteins or protein
fragments to harness their potential for improved mineralization. Such proteins and peptide motifs have also been
the inspiration for attempts of making mimics of their structures and motifs using chemical or biological synthesis.
The aim of this review is to highlight how proteins and (poly)peptides themselves impact mineralization
in the human body, and how those could be used and have been used for improving apatite mineralization, for
example, on or in materials that by themselves do not induce apatite mineralization but otherwise have interesting
properties for use as bone tissue engineering scaffolds.J. Benesch wishes to acknowledge the financial support from FCT, postdoctoral fellowship scholarship SFRH/BPD/17584/2004. This work was carried out under the scope of the European Union NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004500283) and partially funded by the European Union FP6 STREP Project HIPPOCRATES (NMP3-CT-2003-505758) and FCT project ProteoLight (PTDC/FIS/68517/2006)