Magnesium degradation under physiological conditions - Best practice.

This review focusses on the application of physiological conditions for the mechanistic understanding of magnesium degradation. Despite the undisputed relevance of simplified laboratory setups for alloy screening purposes, realistic and predictive setups are needed. Due to the complexity of these systems, the review gives an overview about technical measures, defines some caveats and can be used as a guideline for the establishment of harmonized laboratory approaches.

On the Determination of Magnesium Degradation Rates under Physiological Conditions.

The current physiological in vitro tests of Mg degradation follow the procedure stated according to the ASTM standard. This standard, although useful in predicting the initial degradation behavior of an alloy, has its limitations in interpreting the same for longer periods of immersion in cell culture media. This is an important consequence as the alloy's degradation is time dependent.