Effects of additives and templates on calcium carbonate mineralization in vitro.

The review focuses on the effects of several important additives and templates controlling the calcium carbonate crystals formation and the complexity of the crystal morphologies in vitro. Additives include soluble matrices extracted from shells and pearls, amino-acids, magnesium ions and collagen among others. Templates include modified single crystal silicon, natural biominerals among others. Mechanisms proposed to explain the phenomena are not systematic, further studies are necessary to explain how organic matrices mediate calcium carbonate mineralization.