Evaluation of cyto-toxicity and corrosion behavior of alkali-heat-treated magnesium in simulated body fluid

Compared to other popular metallic biomaterials, magnesium has many advantages, which include high specific strength-to-mass ratio, non-toxicity and similar elastic modulus to that of human bone. However, the knowledge gap in corrosion resistance in physiological environment has prevented it from being a substitute for human hard tissues. In this paper, preliminary corrosion tests on magnesium specimens in Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) with and without Cl- ions have been investigated. Cytotoxicity tests were then carried out for developing a new biomaterial. The corrosion results showed that alkali and heat-treated magnesium has relatively high corrosion resistance in SBF, compared to untreated samples. Calcium-phosphate apatites were detected on the treated samples after they had been soaked in SBF for 14 days. In cytotoxicity tests, no signs of morphological changes on cells or inhibitory effect on cell growth were detected. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.