Structure, mechanical characteristics and in vitro degradation, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity of novel biodegradable Zn-Mg alloys.

Zn-(0-1.6)Mg (in wt.%) alloys were prepared by hot extrusion at 300 °C. The structure, mechanical properties and in vitro biocompatibility of the alloys were investigated. The hot-extruded magnesium-based WE43 alloy was used as a control. Mechanical properties were evaluated by hardness, compressive and tensile testing. The cytotoxicity, genotoxicity (comet assay) and mutagenicity (Ames test) of the alloy extracts and ZnCl2 solutions were evaluated with the use of murine fibroblasts L929 and human osteosarcoma cell line U-2 OS. The microstructure of the Zn alloys consisted of recrystallized Zn grains of 12 µm in size and fine Mg2Zn11 particles arranged parallel to the hot extrusion direction. Mechanical tests revealed that the hardness and strength increased with increasing Mg concentration. The Zn-0.8 Mg alloys showed the best combination of tensile mechanical properties (tensile yield strength of 203 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 301 MPa and elongation of 15%). At higher Mg concentrations the plasticity of Zn-Mg alloys was deteriorated. Cytotoxicity tests with alloy extracts and ZnCl2 solutions proved the maximum safe Zn(2+) concentrations of 120 µM and 80 µM for the U-2 OS and L929 cell lines, respectively. Ames test with extracts of alloys indicated that the extracts were not mutagenic. The comet assay demonstrated that 1-day extracts of alloys were not genotoxic for U-2 OS and L929 cell lines after 1-day incubation.

Structure, mechanical properties, corrosion behavior and cytotoxicity of biodegradable Mg-X (X=Sn, Ga, In) alloys.

As-cast Mg-Sn, Mg-Ga and Mg-In alloys containing 1-7 wt.% of alloying elements were studied in this work. Structural and chemical analysis of the alloys was performed by using light and scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and glow discharge spectrometry. Mechanical properties were determined by Vickers hardness measurements and tensile testing. Corrosion behavior in a simulated physiological solution (9 g/l NaCl) was studied by immersion tests and potentiodynamic measurements. The cytotoxicity effect of the alloys on human osteosarcoma cells (U-2 OS) was determined by an indirect contact assay. Structural investigation revealed the dendritic morphology of the as-cast alloys with the presence of secondary eutectic phases in the Mg-Sn and Mg-Ga alloys. All the alloying elements showed hardening and strengthening effects on magnesium. This effect was the most pronounced in the case of Ga. All the alloying elements at low concentrations of approximately 1 wt.% were also shown to positively affect the corrosion resistance of Mg. But at higher concentrations of Ga and Sn the corrosion resistance worsened due to galvanic effects of secondary phases. Cytotoxicity tests indicated that Ga had the lowest toxicity, followed by Sn. The most severe toxicity was observed in the case of In.