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Mu et al. Microstructures 2023;3:2023030 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/microstructures.2023.05 Page 3 of 21

Figure 1. Physiological mineralization, mainly in bone and teeth, forms well-organized structures.

Figure 2. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) photographs of (A) SBF-originated apatite crystals on a Titanium substrate (inset:
SAED pattern) (Reproduced with permission from Takadama et al. [14] . Copyright 2001, John Wiley & Sons), (B-D) apatite crystals from
mouse femur and their SAED patterns (Reproduced with permission from Taehoon et al. [13] . Copyright 2010, SpringerOpen).

and mortality [29-32] . Such mineralization consists of different Ca-containing minerals, including CaPs,
calcium carbonates (CaCO ), and calcium oxalates (CaO ) [20,31] .
3
x
The current treatment of pathological mineralization in soft tissues includes reduced intake of Ca or
reduced precipitation of Ca-containing complex. However, there are still no specific and effective
treatments to prevent or counteract the condition [32,33] . Pathological/ectopic mineralization is less
understood than physiological mineralization, but the commonalities between physiological and
pathological/ectopic mineralization have gradually been recognized over the years [34-36] . There are still
ongoing debates regarding the chemical compositions and crystal structures of pathological crystals, the
dynamics of ion transport, the participation of cellular activities, the interactions of pathological crystals
[36]
with surrounding tissues, and how these contribute to disease progression . The compositional and
structural analysis of pathological mineralization would benefit the development of better disease
management through advanced treatment and prevention. In this review, bone and teeth mineralization
and crystal structures are recognized as the fundamental and physiological processes in biomineralization.