Wandering with Wonder
Usva Seregina, Astrid Van den Bossche in Art-Based Research in the Context of a Global Pandemic, 2023
The girls from Natchez NC100BW dubbed themselves Girls’n Pearls, in reference to an object they associated with femininity and beauty. Learning about the nickname, the researcher was struck with new layers of meaning that helped unfold another sculptural piece for the project. The pearl is one of few biogenic gemstones, others include amber and ammolite. Its formation takes place as a self-defence mechanism. Upon detecting the presence of a foreign body, the oyster releases a substance, known as nacre, which isolates and coats the parasite. In nature, the phenomenon is very rare – as the oyster defends itself quite well with its own shell – occurring once in every ten thousand animals. In the early 20th century, the Japanese invented a simple way to speed up the process, introducing a small amount of mother-of-pearl, three-quarters of the desired final size, into the shell (Nagai 2013). This information offered the possibility of perceiving the pearl as the birth of beauty from an integration of traumas.
Medicine and German colonial expansion in the Pacific
Roy MacLeod, Milton Lewis in Disease, Medicine, and Empire, 1988
The Marianas, or Ladrone Islands, form a chain of fifteen islands lying in the western Pacific between latitude 13°N. and 21 °N., and longitude 144°E. and 146°E.; with a total land area of 450 square miles. The northern islands are volcanoes; the southern islands are extinct volcanoes covered with coral limestone. The islands were annexed by Spain in 1564, but a century passed before colonization was attempted. A period of ruthless wars against the natives (the Chamorro, a people of mixed Micronesian, Filipino and Spanish descent) followed. In 1898, after the Spanish-American war, the southernmost island, Guam, was ceded to America, and in 1899 the remaining islands were sold to Germany. Under German administration, copra, trepang, tortoiseshell, and nacre were exported to the mother country. A few weeks after Germany had taken over the islands, she established a Bezirksamt on Saipan, the main island of the group, to take up colonial administration. However, this post was never filled. From 1899 to 1906 the Marianas were administered by the Bezirksamtmanner of Ponape, Eastern Carolines (Dr Albert Hahl, 1899-1902; Viktor Berg, 1902-6); after 1906, together with the Palau Islands, they were administered by the Bezirksamtmanner of Yap, Western Carolines (Arno Senfft, 1899-1909; Rudolf Karolowa, 1909; Georg Fritz, 1909-10; Dr Hermann Kersting, 1910-11; Dr Baumert, 1911-14). In 1911 the total population of Saipan amounted to c. 2,500 natives, 22 Europeans (15 Germans, 7 Spaniards), and 38 Japanese.31
Sponge Enzyme's Role in Biomineralization and Human Applications
Se-Kwon Kim in Marine Biochemistry, 2023
The molecularly controlled processes of biomineralization using CAs and their application to bionic manufacturing is recently summarized (Arakaki et al., 2015). Three critical elements, including catalysts, surface recognitions, and template effects, influence the biomineralization formation process. Controlling the molecular composition of these three components could result in biomineralization with diverse structures, morphologies, functions, and performance and that is exactly how CAs bring about biocalcification. Biomineralization-based bionic natural molluscan shell design and three-dimensional (3D) printing were used and described using a layer-by-layer process (Yadav et al., 2018). When compared to nacre and foliated materials, the crossed lamellar microstructure was found to have superior impact properties and a faster wear rate. This microstructural-dependent site-specific printing approach could be used for bionic and biomedical engineering on advanced functionalized materials. Biomineralization-based cell-micro-reactors were proposed to be used like 3D-printing assemblies that would imitate natural bone healing (Itel et al. 2018)
A step toward bio-inspired dental composites
Published in Biomaterial Investigations in Dentistry, 2023
Janine Tiu, Renan Belli, Ulrich Lohbauer
Materials inspiration has been drawn from the inner layer of mollusk shells or nacre (Figure 1(a)). Nacre is composed of ordered interdigitated hexagonal aragonite platelets in a plastic interstitial organic matrix (Figure 1(b,c)). They form complex ‘brick-and-mortar’ structures that enable multiple toughening mechanisms to act simultaneously [13]. Notably, platelets in nacre interlock and slide on each other, bridging the crack wake and providing the energy dissipating processes at the microstructural level (Figure 1(e,f)) [14]. Surface nano-asperities on the platelets (Figure 1(d)) contribute by increasing frictional resistance [15], which adds to the bridging stresses that relieve the critical crack tip stress intensity factor needed for further crack advance. Meanwhile, the development of nacre-like artificial materials produced by a variety of techniques continues in engineering labs. These synthetic materials are capable of steep rising R-curves and reach saturation values for the applied stress intensity factor >8.0 MPa.m0.5 [16–18].
The byssal-producing glands and proteins of the silverlip pearl oyster Pinctada maxima (Jameson, 1901)
Published in Biofouling, 2022
Alessandra Whaite, Anne Klein, Shahida Mitu, Tianfang Wang, Abigail Elizur, Scott Cummins
This investigation into the production of byssus has resulted in the de novo assembly of foot and byssal stem region genes from the silverlip pearl oyster. Biomineralization-associated genes were highly expressed within the foot and stem region tissue transcriptomes, indicating genes previously identified as important for nacre formation have a key role in the formation of byssal threads in Pinctada spp. This is an important finding in understanding byssus formation and in understanding the formation of nacre in pearl oysters, which is an active area of research related to an economically important industry. Furthermore, the development of a protocol to extract proteins from native dried byssal threads successfully resulted in a proteome of 49 proteins that match to the genes found in the transcriptome. From the proteome, 5 byssal thread-associated proteins have been further characterised, each specific to the foot tissue of P. maxima. TSP1 is a key structural protein of the byssus, potentially a thread matrix protein that is protected by peroxidase and BR3. This study reports the protein GRT and its localisation to the epithelial surface of duct gland. The Pmfp1, with homology to DOPA-containing apfp1 and perlucin proteins, is a foot-and thread-specific protein which may play a role in the cuticle of the byssal threads of P. maxima. This study has advanced knowledge of byssus biosynthesis in this non-model oyster species, providing a platform for the design of new marine biopolymers.
Nanoscaled pearl powder accelerates wound repair and regeneration in vitro and in vivo
Published in Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 2019
Xi Chen, Li-Hua Peng, Seng-Sing Chee, Ying-Hui Shan, Wen-Quan Liang, Jian-Qing Gao
Nacre is the mother material of pearl. It includes the inner layer of pearl oyster and freshwater mussel shells. The major chemical component of pearl and nacre is calcium carbonate in the form of aragonite. The β-chitin, silk-like proteins, and acidic glycoproteins are also existed in pearl and nacre. Pearl powder is prepared from the pearl oyster. It is difficult to distinguish between pearl powder and nacre powder by naked eyes. Recent years, thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and near-infrared spectroscopy are used to distinguish the pearl powder and nacre powder. Pearl powder is frequently used in Chinese medicine for palpitations, convulsions, insomnia, and epilepsy [5]. The predominant chemical component of pearl and nacre is calcium carbonate in the form of aragonite [6]. It was reported that calcium in pearl powder was found to have osteogenic activity [7]. Pearl powder also contains 15–18 amino acids, over 20 microelements (including Zn, Ca, Mg, P, Fe, etc.), several types of proteins and short peptides and some other active factors [8]. Pearl powder demonstrated antioxidant [9], antiaging [10], antiradiative, and tonic activities [11]. Clinical applications have also proved its obvious therapeutic efficacy in treating relapsed aphthous ulcer, gastric ulcer, and duodenal ulcer [12]. It was reported that the extracts of pearl powder could stimulate fibroblast mitosis, inhibit metalloproteinase-1 production [13]. And, it was reported that water soluble nacre obtained from powdered nacre (mother of pearl powder) could enhance the recovery of necrotic cellular damage and spurred angiogenesis [14]. All these results suggest that, pearl powder might be effective and safe therapeutics for wound treatment.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Biopolymer
- Calcium Carbonate
- Chitin
- Protein
- Weibull Distribution
- Composite Material
- Mollusc Shell
- Silk
- Structural Coloration
- Silicon