OBSERVATIONS ON STRUCTURAL FEATURES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BIOLOGICAL APATITE CRYSTALS

7. OBSERVATION ON LATTICE IMPERFECTION OF HUMAN TOOTH AND BONE CRYSTALS II.

Abstract

In a series of studies to investigate the structural features of the biological crystal, such as the tooth and bone, using an electron microscope, we examined the ultrastructure of the human enamel, dentin, and bone crystals at near atomic resolution and showed the configuration of the hydroxyapatite structure through the cross and longitudinal sections of the enamel, dentin, and bone crystals. Subsequently, based on the results of our observations of the ultrastructure of the tooth and bone crystals, we attempted to clarify the essential structural features and characteristics of the lattice imperfections in the hydroxyapatite structure composing of the human enamel, dentin, and bone crystals from the morphological viewpoint. Therefore, using the same approach, we examined the images of the lattice imperfection of the normal human enamel, dentin, and bone crystals. In this report, following the previous ovservation of the lattice imperfection on the point defect structure and the dislocations appearing in the inner structure of the crystal, we describe the image of the face defect structure obtained by using the same approach from the sections of the human enamel, dentin, and bone crystals, such as the stacking fault, grain boundary , and others. The materials used for this study were the human enamel, dentin, and bone crystals. The small cubes of the material were fixed in glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide and embedded in epoxy resin using the routine methods. The ultrathin sections were cut with a diamond knife without decalcification. The sections were examined with the HITACHI H-800 H and H-9000 type transmission electron microscopes operated at 200 kV and 300 kV respectively. Each crystal was observed at an initial magnification of 300,000 times and at a final magnification of 10,000,000 times and over. We sincerely believe that the electron micrographs shown in this report are the first to show the images of the lattice imperfections from the sections obtained from the hydroxyapatite crystal composing of the human enamel, dentin, and bone tissue, such as the grain boundary, stacking fault, and others, at near atomic resolution.