Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 14: Biomaterials and Biopolymers I (joint with CPP)
BP 14.5: Talk
Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 10:45–11:00, H34
Polarized confocal Raman microscopy and EBSD: A comparative study studying calcite crystalline regions within the tergite cuticle of terrestrial isopods. — •Christian Reisecker1, Erika Griesshaber2, Bastian Seidl3, Andreas Ziegler3, and Sabine Hild1 — 1Institute of Polymer Science, Johannes Kepler Universtät Linz, Altenbergstr. 69, 4040 Linz, Austria — 2Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, LMU, Theresienstr. 41, 80333 München, Germany — 3Facility for Electron Microscopy, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89069 Ulm, Germany
Recently, isopods gained increasing amount of interest in terms of biomometics as they combine quite diverse properties within their tergite cuticle such as hardness in the outer parts of the cuticle and softness in the more inner part, where muscles will be attached. This is achieved via a strong hierarchical arrangement of organic-chitin-protein fibers, which are arranged in a twisted plywood structure and inorganic materials. The organic matrix is hardened by carbonates in crystalline (calcite) and non-crystalline modification (amorphous calcium carbonate, ACC). This study focusses on the outer, mainly crystalline parts within the tergite cuticle of isopods. Confocal Raman microscopy is a useful tool to study the chemical and structural composition of isopods, as it provides a spatial resolution below 300 nm. Polarized confocal Raman microscopy and EBSD will be utilized to determine different domains and layers of calcite crystals. It has been demonstrated that depending on the species, the calcite region consists of domains with different orientations concerning its bravais lattice.