#Magnesium #whitlockite formation in the alveolar #bone, with #bisphosphonate exposure and osteolytic #skeletal #metastasis. Scanning electron microscopy, Micro-Raman spectroscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy reveal Mg-rich, rhomboidal nodules (200 nm to 2.4 µm) within the lacuno-canalicular space. Mg-whitlockite formation in #osteocyte lacunae is multifactorial in #nature and suggests altered bone #biomineralization.
Here's a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of #bone showing mineralized #collagen and an #osteocyte lacuna containing microcalcifications of #apatite and #whitlockite.
Such #calcification or #mineral formation is part of normal physiological processes such as #apoptosis but can also indicate #pathology.
The specimen was prepared using focussed ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM).
Read more:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02888
Furqan Shah