Crystallization from a milk-based revised simulated body fluid

A milk-based revised simulated body fluid (milk-rSBF) was prepared by a conventional route but instead of deionized water, all necessary chemicals were dissolved in whole cow's milk (3.2% fat). In order to accelerate crystallization and increase the amount of precipitates, the influence of milk was studied from condensed solutions equal to four times the ionic concentrations of rSBF (4rSBF). The experiments were performed under physiological conditions (solution pH = 7.35-7.40, temperature 37.0 +/- 0.2 degrees C, duration 7 days) in a constant-composition double-diffusion device, which provided a slow crystallization under strictly controlled conditions. Similar experiments with 4rSBF but dissolved in deionized water were used as a control. An extra set of experiments with 4rSBF dissolved in deionized water but with an addition of 40 g l(-1) bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as another control. The influence of milk appeared to be similar to that of dissolved BSA: some components of milk (presumably albumins and proteins) were found to co-precipitate with calcium phosphates, which had a strong negative influence on both the crystallinity and the crystal sizes of the precipitates. In addition, both milk and BSA strongly inhibited crystallization of calcium phosphates: the precipitates turned out to contain a minor amount of calcium phosphates and a substantial amount of organic phase.