Biomimetic Mineralization: The Role of Nanoscale Architecture in Supramolecular Templating of Biomimetic Hydroxyapatite Mineralization (Small 14/2012)

When 3D peptide amphiphile assemblies with flat and cylindrical morphologies are used as templates for mineralization, the nanoscale architecture is found to play a significant role in orienting hydroxyapatite in a bone-like fashion. Cylindrical nanostructures facilitate mineral orientation parallel to the long axis of the 1D assembly while flatter, ribbonlike architectures nucleate randomly oriented mineral. Macroscopically aligned constructs of the cylindrical nanostructures further demonstrate the ability to orient hydroxyapatite across length scales. This work by S. I. Stupp and co-workers emphasizes the importance of template morphology.