Figure 1. Natural calcium phosphate bions (CPB) may be cultured from calcified but not from non-calcified tissue.

(a)An increased turbidity of the culture medium was observed in the flasks where the extracts of the calcified atherosclerotic plaques were added (right); however, the medium in the flasks where the extracts of internal mammary artery were added remained clear (left). (b)A white precipitate was found at the bottom of the tubes filled with the culture medium containing the extract of the calcified atherosclerotic plaque. (c) An increase in the optical density confirms the presence of certain particles in the culture medium with the extracts of the calcified atherosclerotic plaques (right, n = 4) but not with the extracts of internal mammary artery (left, n = 4). (d)Addition of the plaque extracts from eleven out of sixteen patients to the culture medium led to an increase in the optical density indicating formation of natural CPB (right, n = 16); optical density also increased indicating formation of artificial CPB when we added the supersaturated solution of CaCl₂/Na₂HPO₄*12H₂O to the culture medium (left, n = 16). All experiments were performed in triplicate. Each dot represents a biological replicate. Values are represented as mean with range. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, two-tailed Student’s t-test.