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A marriage of bone and nacre

Nature volume 392, pages 861–862 (1998)Cite this article

Clinical experiments aimed at reducing bone loss in jaws raise a raft of interdisciplinary issues. Those investigating biomineralization, early evolutionary history and biological signal transduction might take an interest.

Our immune system is like a zealous gardener who spots and wipes out all that does not belong in his garden, even the tiniest of weeds. A group including Gérard Atlan (Montpellier) and Evelyne Lopez (Paris) have conducted an experiment the results of which are astonishing and show utter disregard of this system. Since their publication last year1, however, their significance has passed largely unnoticed.

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Figure 1: The in vivo effects of powdered nacre implant on bone regeneration in defective human jawbone, as revealed by Atlan et al.1.

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  1. the Department of Chemistry, Leiden University, PO Box 9502, 2300, RA Leiden, The Netherlands

    Peter Westbroek & Frédéric Marin

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  1. Peter Westbroek
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  2. Frédéric Marin
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Westbroek, P., Marin, F. A marriage of bone and nacre. Nature 392, 861–862 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/31798

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