Elucidating the biological role of soluble silicon in early bone mineralisation

Birdi, Gurpreet; Shelton, Richard M.; Bowen, James; Oppenheimer, Pola Goldberg and Grover, Liam M. (2014). Elucidating the biological role of soluble silicon in early bone mineralisation. In: 26th European Conference on Biomaterials, 31 Aug - 3 Sep 2014, Liverpool, UK.

URL: https://www.academia.edu/9854889/Elucidating_the_b...

Abstract

The role of silicon in bone biology has been famously reported by Carlisle (1974) and Schwarz et al (1973). They demonstrated that when the levels of silica in an animal’s diet were decreased to a critical level, bone and cartilage deformation resulted. Silicon at 0.5 wt% in vivo has been shown to be present within the active mineralising osteoid regions, that is, the sites undergoing active calcification. This suggested that silicon may play a key role in the metabolism and stabilisation of the connective tissue present in bone and cartilage although its effect on calcification may arise indirectly through its interaction with matrix components. In vitro studies carried out by Reffit et al (2003) demonstrated that type 1 collagen synthesis in human osteoblast-like cells was enhanced in the presence of 10-20 μM orthosilicic acid.

Here we examine the evidence for a possible biological mechanism of orthosilicic acid (OSA), the soluble form of silicon influencing early bone mineralisation specifically focusing on its effect on mineral deposition and collagen fibril formation.

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