I have sent some rats' teeth to a friend for her research, as described below. The teeth have some tissue on them. What would be the best way to get rid of this without disturbing the zinc binding?  jane

Thank you very much for the details. We basically want to look at Zn coordination environments in the teeth appatite, as comparing to our synthetic Zn-doped hydroxylapatite. So I'm guessing the older animals might have better crystalline apatite? Anyway, I probably have to grind them up seperately and do some XRD to check on the crystallinity, as well as maybe H2O2 or chlorox treatment to get rid of the organics. Thanks a lot for getting the samples! 



"Life is short - make haste to be kind"

Dr. Jane Flinn
Director, Biopsychology Program
George Mason University, 3F5
4400 University Dr.
Fairfax, VA  22030
Phone: 703-993-4107
Fax: 703-993-1359