Powder metallurgical Ti-Mg metal-metal composites facilitate osteoconduction and osseointegration for orthopedic application.

In this work, Ti-Mg metal-metal composites (MMCs) were successfully fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). In vitro, the proliferation and differentiation of SaOS-2 cells in response to Ti-Mg metal-metal composites (MMCs) were investigated. In vivo, a rat model with femur condyle defect was employed, and Ti-Mg MMCs implants were embedded into the femur condyles. Results showed that Ti-Mg MMCs exhibited enhanced cytocompatibility to SaOS-2 cells than pure Ti. The micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) results showed that the volume of bone trabecula was significantly more abundant around Ti-Mg implants than around Ti implants, indicating that more active new-bone formed around Ti-Mg MMCs implants. Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining analysis revealed significantly greater osteointegration around Ti-Mg implants than that around Ti implants.