• Kurzer Link
• Link
• Embed

1 Abstract Nacre is the inner iridescent layer in the shells of snails and mussels. It is composed of mineral platelets, which consist of aragonite, a CaCO3 - polymorph, and of a small amount of organic matter, the so called organic matrix. The organic matrix can be subdivided into the soluble and the insoluble matrix, whereby this definition is preparation dependent. The nacre and the organic components used in this thesis originated from the marine gastropods Haliotis laevigata and Haliotis tuberculata. This thesis contains mainly three parts presenting results. The first part concentrates on the investigation of the growth of calciumcarbonate crystals on the insoluble matrix and the influence of the soluble matrix on this growth process. In the experiment a crystallization device was used, which contained the insoluble matrix and was flowed through by NaHCO3 - and CaCl2 - solutions and by different concentrations of the soluble matrix as an additive. Investigations via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that besides vaterite and calcite crystals, also flat crystals develop on the insoluble matrix. With the addition of a relatively high concentration of 1 µg/ml soluble matrix CaCO3 - crystal growth was totally inhibited, whereas the addition of 0.02 µg/ml soluble matrix slightly increases growth of flat crystals compared to experiments without any additive. By analyzing diffraction pattern recorded in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) the flat crystals could be identified as aragonite. Furthermore some of the flat crystals formed a layered structure induced by growth between the horizontal layers of the insoluble matrix. Thus, the morphology as well as the crystal polymorph remind on natural grown nacre. In the second part of the thesis a central feature in the aragonite platelets was investigated by TEM to obtain information on the growth processes in natural nacre. Contrary to publications, in which is stated that the central features contain organic residua, in this thesis no such organic material could be detected. Instead of that aragonite with the same orientation as the surrounding platelet was observed within the central feature (apart from one sample of eight, which contained amorphous CaCO3). This, together with SEM investigations, suggests that the reason for the central feature is a depression and a bulge, respectively, in the middle of the aragonite platelets. The position of the feature coincides with the nucleation site that is located on the insoluble matrix and contains different molecules and proteins that may affect the nucleation of aragonite. The third part deals with the investigation of the location of calcium ions in the mantle epithelium of Haliotis tuberculata. This analysis should give insight into the transportation processes of calcium ions through the epithelial cells into the extrapallial space from where they are build into the shell. The detection of calium ions was performed in a TEM using electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). For preparation the tissue was first chemically fixed and afterwards embedded. The disadvantage of this preparation procedure was the formation of artifacts in terms of additional calcium in the cells. This contamination hindered a correct detection of the endogenous calcium. 1