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Figure 5. Proposed model for the onset of nanosphere aggregation at pH 8. At low temperatures (room temperature and below), amelogenin assembles into nanospheres with a dense (hydrophobic) core surrounded by a shell of (hydrophilic and negatively charged) chain segments. The SAXS radius Rs is related to the core, whereas the hydrodynamic radius Rh is related to the overall size of the particle. At higher temperatures, the repulsion between spheres is reduced (possibly due to a collapse of the chains onto the core) and agglomeration of the nanospheres starts. (Reprinted from Aichmayer et al., 2005, with permission from Elsevier.)
