Sains Malaysiana 43(7)(2014): 1023–1029

Mineral and Physiochemical Evaluation of Cockle Shell (Anadara granosa) and

Other Selected Molluscan Shell as Potential Biomaterials

(Penilaian Unsur dan Fisiokimia Kulit Kerang (Anadara granosa) dan Kulit Molusk Lain sebagai Biobahan yang Berpotensi)

HEMABARATHY BHARATHAM^1,2, MD. ZUKI ABU BAKAR ZAKARIA^2,3*, ENOCH KUMAR PERIMAL⁴, LOQMAN MOHAMAD YUSOF⁵ & MUHAJIR HAMID⁶

¹School of Diagnostic and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

²Department of Veterinary Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

³Institute of Biosciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

⁴Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43300 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

⁵Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,

 Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

⁶Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Received: 8 July 2013/Accepted: 3 October 2013

ABSTRACT

Molluscan shells are attracting research interest due to the diverse application properties possessed. As shells are very similar to bones, this study was conducted to analyze the mineral and physiochemical composition of Cockle (Anadara granosa) shell and three other types of molluscan shell, namely Strombus canarium, Oliva sayana and Terebra dislocata as potential biomaterial for bone tissue engineering applications. Approximately 200 g of shells from each species were processed and powdered for the purpose of this study. Carbon was analyzed using the carbon analyzer while minerals and heavy metals through ICP-MS. The phase purity and crystallographic structures of the powders were identified using X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) while the chemical functionality was determined using the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer. The analysis showed that Cockle shells contained higher content of calcium and carbon including varying amount of other minor elements comparatively. However, all four types of shell powders were found to contain below detectable levels of toxic elements. Physiochemical analysis on phase purity and crystallographic structures showed similar characteristics of carbonate group present in all four shell types. A predominantly aragonite form of calcium carbonate was detected in both XRD diffractogram and FTIR spectra for all samples. Our findings demonstrated that different types of molluscan shells have almost similar mineral and physiochemical characteristics and a predominantly aragonite form of calcium carbonate that provides a strong basis for their use as a potential bone tissues engineering material.

Keywords: Anadara granosa; aragonite; bone tissue engineering; calcium carbonate; Oliva sayana; Strombus canarium; Terebra dislocata

ABSTRAK

Sifat cengkerang molusk yang menyerupai ciri struktur tulang telah menarik minat ramai penyelidik. Kajian ini telah dijalankan untuk menganalisis komposisi unsur dan struktur kimia kulit kerang (Anadara granosa) dan tiga jenis spesies molusk lain, Strombus canarium, Oliva sayana dan Terebra dislocata sebagai bahan asas biomineral untuk applikasi kejuruteraan tisu tulang. Kira-kira 200 g kulit cengkerang daripada setiap spesies telah diproses dan dianalisis untuk kandungan karbon menggunakan penganalisis karbon dan kandungan unsur dan logam berat melalui kaedah ICP-MS. Ketulenan fasa dan struktur kristalografi telah dikenal pasti menggunakan pembelauan sinar-X (XRD) manakala struktur fisiokimia telah dikaji menggunakan spektrometer transformasi Fourier inframerah (FTIR). Analisis karbon dan unsur menunjukkan kulit kerang (Anadara granosa) mempunyai kandungan kalsium dan karbon yang paling tinggi serta unsur-unsur lain dalam kuantiti yang kecil berbanding spesies lain. Unsur-unsur toksik yang dikaji didapati berada pada paras yang diklasifikasi sebagai tidak dapat dikesan dalam kesemua empat jenis spesis yang dikaji. Analisis fisiokimia terhadap ketulenan fasa dan struktur kristalografi menggunakan XRD dan FTIR menunjukkan kehadiran kumpulan kalsium karbonat dalam bentuk aragonit pada kesemua jenis kulit cengkerang yang dikaji. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa kandungan unsur dan ciri fisiokimia kulit cengkerang molusk adalah hampir serupa antara spesies dengan struktur kalsium karbonat dalam bentuk aragonit yang memberikannya kelebihan untuk diguna sebagai bahan asas dalam kejuruteraan tisu tulang.

Kata kunci: Anadara granosa; aragonite; kejuruteraan tisu tulang; kalsium karbonat; Oliva sayana; Strombus canarium; Terebra dislocata

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*Corresponding author; email: zuki@ibs.upm.edu.my