Mineralogical changes of bioapatite in femoral bones of mice during pregnancy.

Mineralogical changes and solubility of bioapatite in mice cortical bones (2- and 5 months old) were investigated by Raman spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma spectrometry in this study. The Raman analyses show that the full width at half maximum values of the 960 cm−1peak exhibit a slight increase during mouse pregnancy, which suggests slightly decreasing crystallinity. Additionally, aging significantly increases the solubility of bone bioapatite. The 1070 cm−1peak indicates the enriched carbonate incorporation during aging from 2 to 5 months. The elevated solubility of bioapatite and low bone density are consistent with the low crystallinity of bioapatite. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]