Biodegradable Magnesium Biomaterials—Road to the Clinic

Abstract

In recent decades, we have witnessed radical changes in the use of permanent biomaterials. The intrinsic ability of magnesium (Mg) and its alloys to degrade without releasing toxic degradation products has led to a vast range of applications in the biomedical field, including cardiovascular stents, musculoskeletal, and orthopedic applications. With the use of biodegradable Mg biomaterials, patients would not suffer second surgery and surgical pain anymore. Be that as it may, the main drawbacks of these biomaterials are the high corrosion rate and unexpected degradation in physiological environments. Since biodegradable Mg-based implants are expected to show controllable degradation and match the requirements of specific applications, various techniques, such as designing a magnesium alloy and modifying the surface characteristics, are employed to tailor the degradation rate. In this paper, some fundamentals and particular aspects of magnesium degradation in physiological environments are summarized, and approaches to control the degradation behavior of Mg-based biomaterials are presented.

Simulating In Vitro the Bone Healing Potential of a Degradable and Tailored Multifunctional Mg-Based Alloy Platform

“…These observations are corroborated by a variety of previous studies. It has been widely reported that the released Mg ions during material degradation regulated gene and protein expression associated with MSCs growth and differentiation, and its effects were highly dose-dependent [ 46 , 47 ]. A variety of works exposing the cells to different ranges of Mg ion concentrations, prepared from the dissolution of Mg salts or present in extracts from Mg-based materials, has been reported attempting to estimate an optimized value.…”

Applications of Biodegradable Magnesium-Based Materials in Reconstructive Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: A Review

“…In vivo studies reported that there were no health risks following Mg implantation in rats with chronic renal failure [ 25 ]. The results of an in vivo study indicated that Mg absorption, after implantation of Mg alloy rods, at the degradation rate of 2.32 mm/yr did not lead to dysfunction of the heart, liver, kidney, and spleen of the rabbits [ 26 ]. Moreover, Mg alloy rods inserted in the femoral bone of the New Zealand rabbits did not cause changes in the Mg serum levels, kidney and liver function, and histological structure of the vital organs, like the heart and spleen [ 27 ].…”

Effects of Zinc, Magnesium, and Iron Ions on Bone Tissue Engineering

“…Out of these three things (scaffold, cells, and growth factors), the focus of this review is on the scaffold. A bone scaffold that mimics the properties of natural bone is crucial which includes sufficient porosity, biocompatibility, osteoinductive activity, and antibacterial property as well as optimal mechanical properties and degradability. ,,, Alloys and biodegradable metals have been widely used as scaffolds for bone repair, as their properties harbor great mechanical stiffness, meeting the high demands of mechanical support in human. − However, the degradation rates of these biomaterials are fast and cannot match with the natural bone healing rate, resulting in limitations for biomedical applications which need structural optimization of scaffolds to delay their degradation rates. − Metallic ions could regulate cell behavior, ,, and it has been reported that these ions can play important roles in the bone regeneration itself. − Therefore, integrating bone scaffolds with metal ions is a promising trend in bone tissue engineering. Zinc, magnesium, and iron ions are available metal ions, belonging to the element of natural bone.…”