INVITRO CALCIFICATION - EFFECT OF MOLECULAR-VARIABLES OF THE PHOSPHOLIPID MOLECULE

Acidic phospholipids are known to promote biological mineralization through the formation of phospholipid-calcium-inorganic orthophosphate complexes. The role of the fatty acyl and cation content of a simple acidic phospholipid, phosphatidyldiacylglycerol, regarding its capability of inducing hydroxylapatite precipitation was investigated. It was found that the induction times preceding hydroxylapatite precipitation and the subsequent rates of precipitation were strongly affected by the cationic charge, the Pauling radius of the cations contained in the salts, the nature of the acyl content, and its stereochemistry. Hydroxylapatite growth on the phospholipids took place by a polynuclear, surface nucle-ation mechanism. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.