title: Degradation of zinc in saline solutions, plasma, and whole blood.
abstract: The initial degradation of zinc has been investigated through exposures to simulated and real body fluids of increasing complexity: phosphate buffered saline (PBS), Ringer's saline solution, human plasma, and whole blood. Real body fluids were used to close the electrolyte gap between simulated and in vivo environment. Polarization of zinc in whole blood show a passive response not present in other electrolytes. The analysis shows a decrease in corrosion rate with time for plasma and whole blood and an increase for PBS and Ringer's. During exposure to plasma and whole blood a bi-layered corrosion product with poor adherence was formed over a uniformly corroding surface. The corrosion products comprise a mixture of inorganic material and biomolecules. Samples degrading in PBS were prone to localized corrosion and formed thick porous corrosion products of primarily zinc phosphates while in Ringer's solution a gel like layer of zinc carbonate was formed over an interface with shallow pits. The use of whole blood or plasma as electrolytes for short term in vitro evaluation of potential biodegradable metals may provide an improved understanding of the behavior in vivo, while Ringer's solution is preferred over PBS for long term degradation studies of zinc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 104B: 1141-1151, 2016.
authors.affiliation: Material Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Electrum 229, 16440, Kista, Sweden.|St Jude Medical Systems AB, Palmbladsgatan, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Törne
authors.affiliation: Material Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Electrum 229, 16440, Kista, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mariann
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: St Jude Medical Systems AB, Palmbladsgatan, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Norlin
authors.affiliation: Material Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Electrum 229, 16440, Kista, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weissenrieder
mesh_terms: D003343:Corrosion; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007552:Isotonic Solutions; D008297:Male; D010710:Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry; D010949:Plasma / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D000077331:Ringer's Solution; D015032:Zinc / Q000737:chemistry*; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D007552:Isotonic Solutions; D010710:Phosphates; D017967:Zinc Compounds; C043952:zinc phosphate; D000077331:Ringer's Solution; D015032:Zinc
keywords: biodegradable; blood; corrosion; electrochemistry; zinc