Corrosion resistance and drug release profile of gentamicin-loaded polyelectrolyte multilayers on magnesium alloys: Effects of heat treatment.

Magnesium (Mg) alloys have received considerable attentions as the emerging biodegradable implant materials in orthopedic surgery applications. However, the rapid corrosion rate and the susceptibility to bacterial infection have prevented their wide spread applications to date. In this work, the gentamicin-loaded multilayers have been constructed on Mg alloys through spin-assisted layer-by-layer (SLbL) assembly. Heat treatment is applied for improving the corrosion resistance and prolonging the drug release profile. In addition, the treated multilayer can promote the formation of hydroxyapatite (HA) during the long-time immersion in Hank's balanced salt solution (HBSS).