In-vitro biocompatibility of Magnesium-based implants

Recently, Magnesium-based bone implants are highly preferable to Titanium implants for reasons such as biodegradability, biocompatibility and osteopromotive nature, etc. Magnesium is also known to exhibit high corrosive properties in its purest form, and hence, there is a need for it to be alloyed. Magnesium-based alloys are highly efficient as biodegradable materials owing to their ductile property and strong nature. Graphene oxide scaffolds are gaining interest in recent days due to their unique characteristics like biodegradability, biocompatibility, meta-stability and water dispersibility. The research problem addressed in this article is the lack of durability of Magnesium-based implants, which leads to the accumulation of hydrogen locally, which ultimately leads to their degradation before the complete healing of the wounds. Fabrication of Magnesium alloys with Graphene oxide and polymers has proven to be an ideal strategy to ameliorate mechanical integrity and reduce the rate of corrosion of implants. Numerous works involving Magnesium, Zinc, Graphene oxide and HAP in different concentrations and combinations have already been published, but never with pectin. This article reviews the methods of fabricating Magnesium-based implants with Graphene oxide and explores the possibilities of incorporating Zinc, HAP and Pectin in the process and also the in vitro methods of assessing the biocompatibility of such implants.