Chitosan/Glycerol Gel Films for the Accurate In Vitro Evaluation of the Corrosion of Biodegradable Medical Magnesium Alloys

Conventional electrochemical evaluation methods in liquid electrolytes often do not accurately replicate in vivo degradation processes, thereby posing a significant challenge in translating biodegradable magnesium-based materials from laboratory research to practical use. To address this challenge, we have developed a new in vitro analysis method using a chitosan/glycerol/Ringer’s gel that closely resembles biological tissue in terms of elemental composition and three-dimensional structure. We examined the degradation of the AZ31 magnesium alloy in both Ringer’s solution and the gel electrolyte using potentiodynamic polarization and periodic surface morphology imaging. Our results indicate that the corrosion rates and morphological features obtained from the gel electrolyte better correspond to in vivo data from animal studies, suggesting that the method can be used to accurately evaluate the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloys in vivo.