STUDY OF THE MINERALIZATION OF CORAL IMPLANTED IN-VIVO BY RADIOACTIVE-TRACERS

Coral has ben used for the last ten years as bone substitution in the body because of its mechanical an osteoconductor properties. Our prima ry studies have shown, for the first time, the quantitative behavior o f the atomic components. We study by some physical method of analysis a biocoral implanted ''in vivo''. The natural biocorals used in this w ork are the calcium carbonated exoskeletons built by Madrepian coral p olyps. Neutron activation analysis showed that initial coral, essentia lly CaCO3, becomes a new material which has a mineral composition clos e to that of bone. In this work, we have studied the calcification mec hanism of this implant by using radioactive tracers. We have establish ed the transfer kinetics of calcium biomaterial in the blood circuit a nd showed its use by the organism for skeleton mineralization.