RESUMO
The current study explored the degradation behavior of a WE43 Mg alloy during immersion tests in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) for 3d and 7d, for a bare alloy surface as well as for samples with surface pre-treatment, and finally for samples coated with chitosan-bioactive glass. The immersion tests were conducted with and without addition of serum, to study the influence of proteins on the degradation process. Mass-loss was measured to determine the corrosion rate after 3d and 7d of immersion. The samples were analyzed by SEM with respect to their surface morphology and the chemical composition was screened by high-resolution XPS. The results demonstrate not only a significant, time-dependent influence of serum addition on the corrosion behavior of the materials studied, but noteworthy is that depending on the sample type, proteins in solution were observed to either accelerate or inhibit corrosion. These results are discussed in correlation to observed changes in surface chemistry taking place upon immersion in the absence and presence of proteins.