Morphological and crystal chemical characteristics of gallbladder biomineralization

Abstract

Pathological biomineralization can be found in some gallbladder (GB) diseases such as chronic calculous cholecystitis (CCCh), gallbladder cancer (GBC) and porcelain gallbladder (PGB). The aim of the work was to analyze the morphology of pathological biomineralization in GB tissue in CCCh, GBC and PGB. Five cases of PGB, 10 samples of CCCh and 5 cases of GBC with biomineralization were selected for this study. All samples were examined by histology, histochemistry and scanning electron microscopy with X-ray diffraction. The X-ray diffraction of mineral deposits of PGB wall and GB concretions revealed their different mineral composition. All PGB and GBC samples had the presence of hydroxyapatite. Calcium-containing GB concretions were composed of calcium carbonate with the presence of trace amounts of other calcium phosphate phases (vaterite, dolomite). We did not find cancer in all PGB cases. The different crystal phases of biominerals were found in the wall (PGB and GBC) and in the GB cavity (CCCh) during pathology development. The difference between mineral content of biominerals can be caused by various conditions and mechanisms of their formation.