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Published on: April 15, 2022
Surface characterization and cytocompatibility evaluation of silanized magnesium alloy AZ91 for biomedical
Agnieszka Witecka1, Akiko Yamamoto2, Henryk Dybiec3
1Biomaterials Unit, Biometal Group, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan; Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 141 Woloska Street, Warsaw, 02-507, Poland.
Abstract:
Mg alloys with high Al contents have superior corrosion resistance in aqueous environments, but poor cytocompatibility compared to that of pure Mg. We have silanized the cast AZ91 alloy to improve its cytocompatibility using five different silanes: ethyltriethoxysilane (S1), 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (S2), 3-isocyanatopyltriethoxysilane (S3), phenyltriethoxysilane (S4) and octadecyltriethoxysilane (S5). The surface hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity was evaluated by water contact angle measurements. X-ray photoelectron analysis was performed to investigate the changes in surface states and chemical composition. All silane reagents increased adsorption of the albumin to the modified surface. In vitro cytocompatibility evaluation revealed that silanization improved cell growth on AZ91 modified by silane S1. Measurement of the concentration of Mg2+ ions released during the cell culture indicated that silanization does not affect substrate degradation.

