The Role of the Macromolecular Aggregation 

 State and Reactivity of Collagen 

 in Calcification^ 



Melvin J. Glimcher - 



The mineralization of certain specialized tissues of living organ- 

 isms is a widespread biological phenomenon ( Table 1 ) which serves 

 a number of highly important mechanical and chemical functions. 



It has long been recognized, and recently emphasized by the 

 newer techniques of x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, that 

 an intimate relationship exists between the mineral crvstallites and 

 the organic matrix of these tissues (Schmidt, 1935; Robinson, 1952; 

 Robinson and Watson, 1952, 1955; Finean and Engstrom, 1953; 

 Carlstrom and Finean, 1954; Carlstrom et al., 1955; Speckman and 

 Norris, 1957; Gregoire, 1957; Tsujii et al, 1958; Watabe et al, 1958). 

 Such observations have naturally led investigators interested in the 

 mechanism of tissue mineralization to study the role of the organic 

 matrix in initiating the formation of the inorganic crystals ( Freuden- 

 berg and Gyorgy, 1921; Gutman and Yu, 1950; Rubin and Howard, 

 1951; Gersh, 1952; Neuman and Neuman, 1953; Engel et al, 1953; 

 Sobel and Burger, 1954; Sobel, 1955; Strates et al, 1957; Glimcher 



' These studies were aided by research grants RG 6391 from the Division of 

 General Medical Sciences, RG (Mult) 6391 from the National Institute of Dental 

 Research, H-4777 from the National Heart Institute, and RG 6391-Sl from the Na- 

 tional Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases of the National Institutes of 

 Health, Public Health Service, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; 

 and by research grants from the John A. Hartford Foundation Inc., the Easter Seal Re- 

 search Foundation of the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults, Inc., 

 the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and the Orthopedic Research and Education 

 Foundation. Some of the work described was carried out at the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was supported by research grants 

 E-1469, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and A-2317, 

 from the 'National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of 

 Health, Public Health Service, United States Department of Health, Education and 

 Welfare, to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Prof. Francis O. Schmitt). 



- Research Fellow of the Medical Foundation of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. 



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