Replacement of tooth loss is increasingly implemented nowadays. Dental implants serve as benchmark for this clinical practice. However, commonly insufficient bone volume at implantation site, caused usually by trauma, tumors and periodontal diseases, hinders largely the efficacy of implants. Guided bone regeneration (GBR) is typically demanded in such case to assist the dental implants. Whereas, current GBR membranes are made of non-degradable metallic biomaterials and are still far from satisfactory. A degradable hot-extruded Zn-Cu-Fe alloy with appropriate comprehensive properties has been fabricated by Prof. Guojiang Wan’s group for GBR membrane application, which has been recently published on academic journal Bioactive Materials. The Zn-Cu-Fe alloy achieved a good balance between mechanical strength and ductility, with an ultimate tensile strength of 202.3 MPa and elongation at fracture of 41.2%. Meanwhile, this alloy showed relatively uniform degradation/corrosion mode in the long-term immersion test. Moreover, the Zn-Cu-Fe alloy exhibited no apparent cytotoxic effects against L929 fibroblasts, Saos-2 osteoblasts or TAg periosteal cells; Likewise, this alloy showed antibacterial effect against both Streptococcus gordonii and mixed oral bacteria. Our study verified that the Zn-Cu-Fe alloy could bode well for GBR membrane application.

For more details, please refer to our this article(Wentai Zhang et al, GuojiangWan*, Bioactive Materials 6 (2021) 975–989.): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioactmat.2020.09.019