Tendon Biomineralization

Due to understandable difficulties with obtaining research materials from humans, bio mineralogical studies were carried out on chicken and beef tendons. Those were chosen as material where biomineralization phenomena occur in a similar fashion as in human tendons. Tendons that were studied were both young and older, at various ages, located both near their connection with bone and with muscle. In the studies, binocular microscopy, polarizing microscopy, and scanning microscopy with EDS chemical analysis attachment were used. It was concluded that tendons undergo progressive mineralization with age. Its early stages are element –mostly calcium and phosphorus–substitutions into the biological structures of collagen that builds tendons. It develops in areas of tendon microinjuries. That mineralization can be discovered only using precise chemical methods because it’s virtually invisible under the microscope, even in great magnifications. In older tendons, especially in places where they connect with bone, but also in muscle areas, the highest level of tendon mineralization with weakly crystalline calcium phosphates of mineralogical properties of hydroxyapatite is observed.

Keywords: Tendons; Biomineralization