Observations have been made, using electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction, on the changes in crystal size and shape which occur in developing rodent enamel during mineralization. Small enamel pieces isolated from ground sections of rat molars and incisors were either embedded in methacrylate and sectioned with a diamond knife for electron microscopy, or they were mounted intact on glass fibers in a Debye-Sherrer type powder camera for x-ray diffraction. By either approach it was found that the apatite crystals were very long in the c axis direction from the beginning of enamel mineralization. Morphologically, the early crystals took the shape of extremely thin, long plates arranged in such a manner that there seemed to be little room for any further length-wise growth. It was demonstrated clearly, on the other hand, that the crystals increased in both thickness and width with advancing mineralization. As a result, the thin crystal plates gradually developed into hexagonal rods, which in the most mature enamel examined measured 500 to 600 A in width and 250 to 300 A in thickness.
Article|
July 01 1963
CRYSTAL GROWTH IN RAT ENAMEL
M. U. Nylen,
M. U. Nylen
From the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
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E. D. Eanes,
E. D. Eanes
From the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
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K.-Å. Omnell
K.-Å. Omnell
From the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
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M. U. Nylen
From the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
E. D. Eanes
From the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
K.-Å. Omnell
From the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
Dr. Omnell's present address is the Department of Radiology, Royal Dental School, Malmø, Sweden
Received:
November 07 1962
Online ISSN: 1540-8140
Print ISSN: 0021-9525
Copyright © 1963 by The Rockefeller Institute Press
1963
J Cell Biol (1963) 18 (1): 109–123.
Article history
Received:
November 07 1962
Citation
M. U. Nylen, E. D. Eanes, K.-Å. Omnell; CRYSTAL GROWTH IN RAT ENAMEL . J Cell Biol 1 July 1963; 18 (1): 109–123. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.18.1.109
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