Rheology as a Mechanoscopic Method to Monitor Mineralization in Hydrogels
Name
GHM274.pdf
Description
Accepted version
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878.57 KB
Format
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Author(s)
Regitsky, Abigail U. (Abigail Utami)
Keshavarz, Bavand
McKinley, Gareth H
Holten-Andersen, Niels
Date Issued
November 2017
Journal
Biomacromolecules
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Citation
Regitsky, Abigail U. et al. "Rheology as a Mechanoscopic Method to Monitor Mineralization in Hydrogels." Biomacromolecules 18, 12 (November 2017): 4067-4074 © 2017 American Chemical Society
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Biominerals have been widely studied due to their unique mechanical properties, afforded by their inorganic-organic composite structure and well-controlled growth in macromolecular environments. However, a lack of suitable characterization techniques for inorganic minerals in organic-rich media has prevented a full understanding of biomineralization. Here, we applied rheometry to study mineral nucleation and growth dynamics by measuring viscoelastic material properties of a hydrogel system during mineralization. Our proof-of-concept system consists of a gelatin hydrogel matrix preloaded with calcium ions and a reservoir of carbonate ions, which diffuse through the gel to initiate mineralization. We found that gels with diffused carbonate show an increase in low frequency energy dissipation, which scales with carbonate concentration and gel pH. Using this signal, and recognizing that mineralization occurs simultaneously with carbonate diffusion in our system, we have mechanoscopically tracked mineral growth in situ, showcasing the potential of rheometry for studying mineralization kinetics in real time.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.7b01129
