Bonucci E
Department of Human Biopathology, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
Scanning Microsc. 1987 Sep;1(3):1089-102.
This paper reviews the principal morphological findings pertinent to the early phases of the calcification process and explores the possibility that there may be a calcification factor common to all calcifying matrices. Three structures have a main role in calcification: collagen fibrils, matrix vesicles, and crystal ghosts. Only crystal ghosts are present in all calcified tissues, so that only they can be taken into consideration as a common calcification factor. They are organic molecules which have the same morphology as that of the inorganic structures present in the calcified matrix, which means that they can be considered as templates for those structures. Early calcification might be initiated by the binding of calcium and phosphate ions to the unmasked reactive groups of the crystal ghosts which are probably contained not only in the matrix, but also in the "holes" of the collagen fibrils and in matrix vesicles. The available data suggest that crystal ghosts share many of the properties of "crystal bound proteins". The involvement of alkaline phosphatase in their composition may account for their calcium- and phosphate-binding activity.
本文回顾了与钙化过程早期阶段相关的主要形态学发现，并探讨了所有钙化基质可能存在共同钙化因子的可能性。三种结构在钙化过程中起主要作用：胶原纤维、基质小泡和晶体影。所有钙化组织中都存在晶体影，因此只有它们可被视为共同的钙化因子。它们是有机分子，其形态与钙化基质中存在的无机结构相同，这意味着它们可被视为这些结构的模板。早期钙化可能是由钙离子和磷酸根离子与晶体影上未被掩盖的反应基团结合引发的，这些反应基团可能不仅存在于基质中，还存在于胶原纤维的“孔洞”和基质小泡中。现有数据表明，晶体影具有“晶体结合蛋白”的许多特性。碱性磷酸酶参与其组成可能解释了它们的钙结合和磷结合活性。
