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Updated: Jun 23, 2026
In vitro Synthesis of Native, Fibrous Long Spacing and Segmental Long Spacing Collagen
Published on: September 20, 2012
Elemental distribution analysis of type I collagen fibrils in tilapia fish scale with energy-filtered transmission
Mitsuhiro Okuda1, Masaki Takeguchi, Motohiro Tagaya
1Biomaterials Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan.
Abstract:
Elemental distribution of calcium, phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon in a single collagen fibril obtained from tilapia fish scales was identified with an electron energy-loss spectroscopy and an energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy, for the first time. The carbon intensity profile of the single collagen fibril showed the specific D-periodic pattern at 67 nm of type I collagen fibrils. The calcium L(2,3)-edge and oxygen K-edge peak positions were detected at 347/350 eV and 137 eV, respectively, and these positions were identical to those of hydroxyapatite. Calcium, phosphorus, and oxygen were present in the hole zones as the amorphous phase, while carbon was present in the overlap zone. Our results indicated that the hole zones preferentially attract calcium and phosphate ions and thus serve as possible nucleation sites for mineralization.
