Current Concepts of Bone Biomineralization

This review aims to propose a more consistent interpretation of the concept of matrix vesicle mineralization, and includes current views on biomineralization in general. We first focused on the ultrastructural, cytochemical and biophysical characteristics of matrix vesicles which confirm the assertion that matrix vesicles are the initial sites of bone biomineralization. We offer a scheme describing how cells regulate biomineralization by means of matrix vesicles during bone formation and remodeling and then discuss the subsequential biomineralization, the growth of hydroxyapatite crystals by direct extension, as well as secondary nucleation from previously formed seams of bone and collagen mineralization.