Osteogenesis mechanism based on kinetic theory

Abstract

In our earlier studies, we considered osteogenesis to be a nucleation mechanism accompanied by preliminary diffusion and showed the optimum mechanical conditions for promoting this ionic diffusion. In this study, we performed an analysis of the nucleation mechanism of hydroxyapatite (HA) in areas with a high concentration of transported Ca and PO₄ ions in the pore region along the collagen alignment. We derived the equation of the HA nucleation rate as a function of hydrostatic tensile stress, $\sigma _{\rm P}$ and surface energy change $(\gamma -\lambda )$ , where $\gamma $ is the surface energy of the HA particle and $\lambda $ is the decreasing factor of $\gamma $ during HA nucleation. $\lambda $ is thus related to the effect of chemical and electric stimulations. Finally, we formulated a unified equation of the nucleation rate of HA, which consists of ionic diffussion and HA nucleation processes.