Investigation of bio-degradation behaviour of porous magnesium alloy based bone scaffolds

Magnesium (Mg) has been found to be a promising biomaterial candidate for orthopedic implants due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical properties. However, Mg implants suffer from uncontrolled degradation within physiological environment. To this end, this study has investigated effect of incorporation of selective alloying elements (Ca and Zn) within Mg matrix, while gradient porosity was achieved by introducing carbamide. Degradation rate of fabricated scaffolds after immersion in PBS solution was measured by weight loss approach. The study confirmed an overall decrease of the biodegradation of Mg-alloy based sample, owing to formation of intermetallic compounds. While the pH values of the pure magnesium scaffolds in PBS solution were found to be increasing throughout the duration of the study, the pH values of magnesium alloy scaffolds were found to be stabilized after 120 h of immersion time, demonstrating the efficacy of the alloying strategy. Overall, the results reveal that the biodegradation behavior could be tailored by developing engineered magnesium-alloy based bone scaffolds.