Nano Biomedicine
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
 Controlled Calcification using Polyanionic Macromolecules with an Active Reaction Center Analogue of Carbonic Anhydrase

 Shigeaki ABE1, Tomoki ISHIDA2, Emi YAMATOYA2, Daisuke HAYASHI3, Tsukasa AKASAKA1, Motohiro UO1, Fumio WATARI1, and Tomoya TAKADA3

 1Department of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
2School of Dental Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
3Department of Material Chemistry, Asahikawa National College of Technology, Asahikawa, Japan

Nano Biomedicine 2009;1(1): 51-58, (Jun 30)
Synopsis
Biomimetic macromolecules containing carboxyl and imidazole groups were synthesized. The complex of a zinc ion, a water molecule, and three imidazoles in a polymer is expected to act as an active center analogue of carbonic anhydrase, a hydration enzyme. The obtained polymer complex was applied to calcium carbonate formation. In this study, we investigated the role of both functional groups on the calcification reaction. The presence of a carboxyl group drastically enhanced the biomineralization, because it recognized and condensed the calcium ion at the first step of the calcification reaction. The obtained zinc-imidazole complex selectively induced the formation of vaterite, which is well-known to be a thermodynamically metastable polymorph of calcium car bonate. Interestingly, the results suggest that the active center analogue (zinc-imidazole complex) also stimulates introduction of the HCO3- ion to the calcium ion-recognition site.

Key words: biomineralization, calcium carbonate, controlled calcification, carbonic anhydrase, biomimetic macromolecule

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