FeMn and FeMnAg biodegradable alloys: An in vitro and in vivo investigation

Luke Saliba; Keith Sammut; Christabelle Tonna; Foteini Pavli; Vasilis Valdramidis; Ray Gatt; Ryan Giordmaina; Liberato Camilleri; William Atanasio; Joseph Buhagiar; Pierre Schembri Wismayer

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15671

FeMn and FeMnAg biodegradable alloys: An in vitro and in vivo investigation

Heliyon. 2023 Apr 21;9(5):e15671. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15671. eCollection 2023 May.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Trauma, Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, MSD 2090, Malta.
² Department of Anatomy, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta.
³ Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta.
⁴ Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta.
⁵ Department of Statistics and Operations Research, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta.
⁶ Mortuary and Anatomic Pathology Department, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, MSD 2090, Malta.

Abstract

Iron-based biodegradable metal bone graft substitutes are in their infancy but promise to fill bone defects that arise after incidents such as trauma and revision arthroplasty surgery. Before clinical use however, a better understanding of their in vivo biodegradability, potential cytotoxicity and biocompatibility is required. In addition, these implants must ideally be able to resist infection, a complication of any implant surgery. In this study there was significant in vitro cytotoxicity caused by pure Fe, FeMn, FeMn1Ag and FeMn5Ag on both human foetal osteoblast (hFOB) and mouse pre-osteoblast (MC3T3-E1) cell lines. In vivo experiments on the other hand showed no signs of ill-effect on GAERS rats with the implanted FeMn, FeMn1Ag and FeMn5Ag pins being removed largely uncorroded. All Fe-alloys showed anti-bacterial performance but most markedly so in the Ag-containing alloys, there is significant bacterial resistance in vitro.

Keywords: Bacterial resistance; Biocompatibility; Biodegradable metals; Cytotoxicity; FeMnAg; In vivo corrosion.