Mineral bridges in nacre revisited

Abstract

We confirm with high-resolution techniques the existence of mineral bridges between superposed nacre tablets. In the towered nacre of both gastropods and the cephalopod Nautilus there are large bridges aligned along the tower axes, corresponding to gaps (150-200 nm) in the interlamellar membranes. Gaps are produced by the interaction of the nascent tablets with a surface membrane that covers the nacre compartment. In the terraced nacre of bivalves bridges associated with elongated gaps in the interlamellar membrane (> 100 nm) have mainly been found at or close to the edges of superposed parental tablets. To explain this placement, we hypothesize that the interlamellar membrane breaks due to differences in osmotic pressure across it when the interlamellar space below becomes reduced at an advanced stage of calcification. In no cases are the minor connections between superimposed tablets (< 60 nm), earlier reported to be mineral bridges, found to be such.