Thorns of the sea hedgehog

2004/11/16 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Biokimika
• Zoologia

The thorns of the hedgehog are of calcium carbonate, of calcite. It is a very common material in the construction of body parts, but the way thorns grow is very rare. In fact, each spine gets a single calcite crystal.

For this purpose, the sea urchin forms with living cells a support around the spine, which fills it with uncrystallized calcite. Once the shape is defined, the sea urchin crystallizes the mineral forming a single crystal. Scientists do not have very clear how this last process occurs.

If it is possible to control this process in two steps, it would have many applications in the laboratory. It can be successful in dental implants, etc.