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The cardiovascular diseases (CVD) continue to be the major threat to global public health over the years, while one of the effective methods to treat CVD is stent intervention. Biomedical magnesium (Mg) alloys have great potential applications in cardiovascular stents benefit from their excellent biodegradability and absorbability. However, excessive degradation rate and the delayed surface endothelialization still limit their further application. In this study, we modified a Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy (ZE21B) by preparing MgF 2 as the corrosion resistance layer, the dopamine polymer film (PDA) as the bonding layer, and hyaluronic acid (HA) loaded astaxanthin (ASTA) as an important layer to directing the cardiovascular cells fate. The electrochemical test results showed that the MgF 2 /PDA/HA-ASTA coating improved the corrosion resistance of ZE21B. The cytocompatibility experiments also demonstrated that this novel composite coating also selectively promoted endothelial cells proliferation, inhibited hyperproliferation of smooth muscle cells and adhesion of macrophages. Compared with the HA-loaded rapamycin (RAPA) coating, our MgF 2 /PDA/HA-ASTA coating showed better blood compatibility and cytocompatibility, indicating stronger multi-functions for the ZE21B alloy on cardiovascular application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Radial compressive stress was introduced in the degradation test of mg microtubes. • Dynamic medium and radial compressive stress accelerate mg microtubes degradation. • The degradation mechanism of mg microtube under different environments was proposed. The degradation of Mg alloys relates to the service performance of Mg alloy biodegradable implants. In order to investigate the degradation behavior of Mg alloys as vascular stent materials in the near service environment, the hot-extruded fine-grained Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy microtubes, which are employed to manufacture vascular stents, were tested under radial compressive stress in the dynamic Hanks' Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS). The results revealed that the high flow rate accelerates the degradation of Mg alloy microtubes and its degradation is sensitive to radial compressive stress. These results contribute to understanding the service performance of Mg alloys as vascular stent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multifunctional coating was constructed on ZE21B alloy for biodegradable vascular stents. • MgF 2 layer and hydrophilic polymers in the functional coating could effectively protect ZE21B alloy from overfast degradation. • Anticoagulant ACH 11 peptides and ECs-selective REDV peptides in the functional coating could dramatically enhance the hemocompatibility and pro-endothelialization capacity of ZE21B alloy. • The functional coating systematically improved the corrosion resistance and biocompatibility of ZE21B alloy in vitro and in vivo. Biodegradable magnesium alloy stents (MAS) have great potential in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, too fast degradation and the poor biocompatibility are still two key problems for the clinical utility of MAS. In the present work, a functional coating composed of hydrophilic polymers and bioactive peptides was constructed on magnesium alloy to improve its corrosion resistance and biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo. Mg-Zn-Y-Nd (ZE21B) alloy modified with the functional coating exhibited moderate surface hydrophilicity and enhanced corrosion resistance. The favourable hemocompatibility of ZE21B alloy with the functional coating was confirmed by the in vitro blood experiments. Moreover, the modified ZE21B alloy could selectively promote the adhesion, proliferation, and migration of endothelial cells (ECs), but suppress these behaviors of smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Furthermore, the modified ZE21B alloy wires could alleviate intimal hyperplasia, enhance corrosion resistance and re-endothelialization in vivo transplantation experiment. These results collectively demonstrated that the functional coating improved the corrosion resistance and biocompatibility of ZE21B alloy. This functional coating provides new insight into the design and development of novel biodegradable stents for biomedical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium (Mg) alloys are promising materials for cardiovascular stent applications due to their good biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, in vitro and in vivo corrosion tests reveal that Mg alloy stents suffer from a rapid corrosion rate and severe localized corrosion, which is limiting their widespread application. To solve the problem of uneven degradation of stents, a HTHE (long-time and high-temperature heat treatment, large-reduction-ratio hot extrusion) process is used to manufacture Mg-Zn-Y-Nd alloy microtubes in this study. The heat treatment is to dissolve alloying elements and reduce the size of SPPs, and the hot extrusion is to acquire fine-grained and strongly textured microtubes. The microstructural characterization shows that coarse second phases in as-cast alloy are refined and uniformly distributed in matrix of microtubes. After hot extrusion, microtubes show strong texture with basal plain oriented parallel to the longitudinal section (LS). The corrosion testing indicates that severe localized corrosion occurs on the cross section (CS) while localized corrosion is alleviated on the LS. Based on the different corrosion properties of the LS and CS, HTHEed microtubes are promising for solving the problems of rapid corrosion rate and severe localized corrosion of Mg alloy stents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium alloys have narrow available slip result from close-packed hexagonal structure that limit their processing properties. In the recent work, the Mg-2Zn-0.46Y-0.5Nd, as materials for degradable stents, was applied to produce as-extruded micro-tube with an outer diameter of 3.0 mm and a wall thickness of 0.35 mm by hot extrusion with an extrusion ratio of 105:1 at 653 K and rapid cooling. The fine microstructure of the dynamic recrystallization of as-extruded micro-tube could be preserved by rapid cooling such as water-cooled, resulting in more excellent mechanical properties relative to air-cooled micro-tube. The addition of rare earth elements Y and Nd results in continuous dynamic recrystallization dominated the dynamic recrystallization mechanism. During the hot extrusion process, the activation of the non-basal slip system, especially the pyramidal 〈 c + a 〉 slip, could significantly weaken the texture strength, and the as-extruded micro-tube exhibits weak "RE" texture components 〈 01 1 ¯ 1 〉 ∥ ED and 〈 1 ¯ 2 1 ¯ 1 〉 ∥ ED. Hence, the magnesium alloy micro-tube prepared by the rapid cooling has fine microstructure and weak texture, which is favorable for further process and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium alloys were considered to be used as biodegradable implants due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability and nontoxicity. However, under the simultaneous action of corrosive environment and mechanical loading in human body, magnesium alloys are easy to be affected by corrosion fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. In this work, the fatigue behavior of the extruded Mg–Zn–Y–Nd alloy used for vascular stents was studied both in air and in simulated body fluid (SBF). It was revealed that the fatigue limit of as-extruded Mg–Zn–Y–Nd alloy in air is about 65 MPa at 107 cycles, while there is no limit in SBF and shows a linear relationship between the fatigue life and stress amplitudes. The fatigue crack source in air was formed by the inclusions and defects. However, the stress corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement are the main reasons for the formation of the fatigue initial crack source in SBF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, multiple addition of rare earth (RE) and manganese (Mn) to AZ61 was conducted aiming to find out the influence to corrosion resistance. AZ61 containing different amounts of RE and Mn was investigated by electrochemical measurement in condition of 3.5 wt% NaCl solution at 25 °C. Gravimetric measurement was conducted in 5 wt% salt spray at 35 °C and 3.5 wt% NaCl solution at 25 °C. Samples were characterized by SEM, EDS, OM and XRD. The result shows that with RE addition Al8Mn5 in AZ61 changed into Al10RE2Mn7. The quantity of β phase is reduced significantly. The multiple addition of RE and Mn improved the corrosion resistance of AZ61. When the ratio of Mn and RE is 0.3, alloy has the best property of corrosion resistance. In addition, the composite addition removed the impurity elements in AZ61 especially Fe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]