Effect of macrophages on in vitro corrosion behavior of magnesium alloy

The influence of cells on the corrosion behavior of biomedical magnesium alloy is an important but less studied topic, which is helpful for understanding the inconsistent corrosion rates between in vitro and in vivo experiments. In this work, macrophages were directly cultured on Mg–2.1Nd–0.2Zn–0.5Zr (wt %, abbreviated as JDBM) alloy surface for 72 or 168 hours. Macrophages retained good viability and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was greatly promoted on the alloy. Weight loss, Mg²⁺ concentration, and cross-section observation results demonstrated that macrophages accelerated the in vitro corrosion of JDBM. The coverage of cell body did not affect the local thickness of corrosion product layer. The corrosion product layer had a porous inner Mg(OH)₂ layer and a dense outer layer mainly composed of O, P, Mg, and Ca. The uniform acceleration of JDBM corrosion was attributed to the omnidirection diffusion of ROS from macrophages.