Effect of sterilization process on surface characteristics and biocompatibility of pure Mg and MgCa alloys

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of various sterilization methods on surface characteristics and biocompatibility of MgCa alloy, with pure Mg as a comparison, including steam autoclave sterilization (SA), ethylene oxide steam sterilization (EO), glutaraldehyde sterilization (GD), dry heat sterilization (DH) and Co60 γ ray radiation sterilization (R) technologies. The surface characterizations were performed by environmental scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, water contact angle and surface free energy measurement, whereas the cytotoxicity and hemocompatibility were evaluated by cellular adhesive experiment, platelet adhesion and hemolysis test. The results showed that the five sterilization processes caused more changes on the surface of MgCa alloy than that on the surface of pure Mg. The GD sterilization caused the most obvious changes on the surface of the pure Mg, and the SA sterilization made the largest alteration on the MgCa alloy surface. The GD and DH sterilization processes could cause increases on surface free energy for both pure Mg and MgCa alloys, while the other three sterilization processes reduced the surface free energy. The DH and GD sterilization processes caused the least alteration on the cell adhesion on pure Mg surface, whereas the EO sterilization performed the greatest impact on the cell adhesion on the Mg–Ca alloy surface. The hemolysis percentage of pure Mg and MgCa alloys were reduced by SA sterilization, meanwhile the other four sterilization processes increased their hemolysis percentages significantly, especially for the EO sterilization.