Mechanism of Bone Mineralization

  1. Monzur Murshed1,2,3
  1. 1Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G1, Canada
  2. 2Division of Experimental Medicine, Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H4A 3J1, Canada
  3. 3Shriners Hospital for Children, Montreal, Quebec H4A 0A9, Canada
  1. Correspondence: monzur.murshed{at}mcgill.ca

Abstract

Mineralized “hard” tissues of the skeleton possess unique biomechanical properties to support the body weight and movement and act as a source of essential minerals required for critical body functions. For a long time, extracellular matrix (ECM) mineralization in the vertebrate skeleton was considered as a passive process. However, the explosion of genetic studies during the past decades has established that this process is essentially controlled by multiple genetic pathways. These pathways regulate the homeostasis of ionic calcium and inorganic phosphate—two mineral components required for bone mineral formation, the synthesis of mineral scaffolding ECM, and the maintainence of the levels of the inhibitory organic and inorganic molecules controlling the process of mineral crystal formation and its growth. More recently, intracellular enzyme regulators of skeletal tissue mineralization have been identified. The current review will discuss the key determinants of ECM mineralization in bone and propose a unified model explaining this process.

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