In vitro and in vivo studies of a biodegradable Zn-4Ag-0.1Sc alloy with high strength-elongation product, cytocompatibility, osteogenic differentiation, and anti-infection properties for guided bone-regeneration membrane applications

Zinc-silver (Zn-Ag) alloys are generally promising guided bone-regeneration membrane (GBRM) materials due to their moderate degradability, osteogenic differentiation, and antibacterial properties. However, Zn-Ag alloys often display microstructural inhomogeneity and mechanical instability due to the formation of coarse Ag-rich second phases. In this study, Zn-4Ag and Zn-4Ag-0.1Sc (denoted ZA and ZAS, respectively) were comparatively investigated, and the ZAS exhibited a suitable degradation rate, high strength-elongation product, cytocompatibility, antibacterial capacity, and in vitro and in vivo osteogenic properties, making it highly appropriate for GBRM applications. Among all the as-cast and hot-rolled (HR) samples, the HR ZAS had the highest ultimate tensile strength of ∼260.5 MPa, tensile yield strength of ∼202.0 MPa, and elongation of ∼72.7 %. The HR ZAS also exhibited a higher degradation rate of ∼36.5 µm/a in Hanks’ solution than those of the HR ZA, while its diluted extract was more cytocompatible and capable of osteogenic differentiation toward both MG-63 and MC3T3-E1 cells. The HR ZAS showed an exceptionally effective antibacterial ability against S. aureus in both in vitro antibacterial testing and in vivo subcutaneous infection models. Further, the HR ZAS demonstrated better osteogenic and histocompatibility properties than those of pure Zn in a rat skull defect model.