Biominerals have been widely studied due to their unique mechanical properties, afforded by their inorganic–organic composite structure and well-controlled growth in macromolecular environments. However, a lack of suitable characterization techniques for inorganic minerals in organic-rich media has prevented a full understanding of biomineralization. Here, we applied rheometry to study mineral nucleation and growth dynamics by measuring viscoelastic material properties of a hydrogel system during mineralization. Our proof-of-concept system consists of a gelatin hydrogel matrix preloaded with calcium ions and a reservoir of carbonate ions, which diffuse through the gel to initiate mineralization. We found that gels with diffused carbonate show an increase in low frequency energy dissipation, which scales with carbonate concentration and gel pH. Using this signal, and recognizing that mineralization occurs simultaneously with carbonate diffusion in our system, we have mechanoscopically tracked mineral growth in situ, showcasing the potential of rheometry for studying mineralization kinetics in real time.

中文翻译：

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流变学作为监测水凝胶矿化作用的机械方法

生物矿物由于其独特的机械性能而得到了广泛的研究，其无机-有机复合结构以及在大分子环境中生长受到良好控制的增长提供了这种性能。然而，在富含有机物的介质中缺乏适用于无机矿物质的表征技术，这阻碍了对生物矿化的全面理解。在这里，我们通过流变法通过测量矿化过程中水凝胶系统的粘弹性材料特性来研究矿物成核和生长动力学。我们的概念验证系统由预装有钙离子的明胶水凝胶基质和碳酸根离子储库组成，它们通过凝胶扩散而开始矿化。我们发现，具有扩散碳酸盐的凝胶显示出低频能量耗散的增加，其随碳酸盐浓度和凝胶pH的变化而变化。