TY - JOUR

T1 - Fast escape of hydrogen from gas cavities around corroding magnesium implants

AU - Kuhlmann, Julia

AU - Bartsch, Ivonne

AU - Willbold, Elmar

AU - Schuchardt, Sven

AU - Holz, Olaf

AU - Hort, Norbert

AU - Höche, Daniel

AU - Heineman, William R.

AU - Witte, Frank

PY - 2013/11

Y1 - 2013/11

N2 - Magnesium materials are of increasing interest in the development of biodegradable implants as they exhibit properties that make them promising candidates. However, the formation of gas cavities after implantation of magnesium alloys has been widely reported in the literature. The composition of the gas and the concentration of its components in these cavities are not known as only a few studies using non-specific techniques were done about 60 years ago. Currently many researchers assume that these cavities contain primarily hydrogen because it is a product of magnesium corrosion in aqueous media. In order to clearly answer this question we implanted rare earth-containing magnesium alloy disks in mice and determined the concentration of hydrogen gas for up to 10 days using an amperometric hydrogen sensor and mass spectrometric measurements. We were able to directly monitor the hydrogen concentration over a period of 10 days and show that the gas cavities contained only a low concentration of hydrogen gas, even shortly after formation of the cavities. This means that hydrogen must be exchanged very quickly after implantation. To confirm these results hydrogen gas was directly injected subcutaneously. Most of the hydrogen gas was found to exchange within 1 h after injection. Overall, our results disprove the common misbelief that these cavities mainly contain hydrogen and show how quickly this gas is exchanged with the surrounding tissue.

AB - Magnesium materials are of increasing interest in the development of biodegradable implants as they exhibit properties that make them promising candidates. However, the formation of gas cavities after implantation of magnesium alloys has been widely reported in the literature. The composition of the gas and the concentration of its components in these cavities are not known as only a few studies using non-specific techniques were done about 60 years ago. Currently many researchers assume that these cavities contain primarily hydrogen because it is a product of magnesium corrosion in aqueous media. In order to clearly answer this question we implanted rare earth-containing magnesium alloy disks in mice and determined the concentration of hydrogen gas for up to 10 days using an amperometric hydrogen sensor and mass spectrometric measurements. We were able to directly monitor the hydrogen concentration over a period of 10 days and show that the gas cavities contained only a low concentration of hydrogen gas, even shortly after formation of the cavities. This means that hydrogen must be exchanged very quickly after implantation. To confirm these results hydrogen gas was directly injected subcutaneously. Most of the hydrogen gas was found to exchange within 1 h after injection. Overall, our results disprove the common misbelief that these cavities mainly contain hydrogen and show how quickly this gas is exchanged with the surrounding tissue.

KW - Amperometric hydrogen sensor

KW - Biodegradable implants

KW - Gas cavities

KW - Hydrogen

KW - Magnesium alloys

KW - Engineering

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84884668972&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.actbio.2012.10.008

DO - 10.1016/j.actbio.2012.10.008

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 23069319

AN - SCOPUS:84884668972

VL - 9

SP - 8714

EP - 8721

JO - Acta Biomaterialia

JF - Acta Biomaterialia

SN - 1742-7061

IS - 10

ER -