Three-dimensional quantification of magnetic resonance imaging artifacts associated with shape factors

Evaluation of cytocompatibility and osteoconductivity of Zr-14Nb-5Ta-1Mo alloy with MC3T3-E1 cells

The cytocompatibility and osteoconductivity of the Zr-14Nb-5Ta-1Mo alloy were investigated using a mouse osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3-E1) to promote the application of this newly developed alloy in dental/medical treatment. The initial cell-attached morphology was visualized by fluorescent staining, and cells cultured on the Zr alloy showed similar cell adhesion behavior to cells cultured on titanium (Ti). In our 5-day proliferation investigation, similar cell numbers were obtained with both Zr alloy and Ti. These results indicate that the cytocompatibility of Zr alloy is similar to that of Ti. In addition, the similar results in the evaluation of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and staining of deposited calcium using alizarin red S with both Zr alloy and Ti indicated that the osteoconductivity of the Zr alloy is similar to that of Ti. Our results prove the good cytocompatibility and osteoconductivity of the Zr-14Nb-5Ta-1Mo alloy, enabling its promotion for use in dental/medical applications.

Appraising the potential of Zr-based biomedical alloys to reduce magnetic resonance imaging artifacts

This study compared Zr-Mo alloys with commercial metallic biomaterials. It was observed that the Zr-Mo alloys exhibited favourable mechanical properties, particularly the Zr-10Mo alloy, which showed the highest strength to Young's modulus ratio among all evaluated metals. These alloys also exhibited the lowest magnetic susceptibilities, which are important for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, both Zr- and Ti-based metals yielded comparable artifacts. It was concluded that the magnetic susceptibility must differ considerably to afford significantly improved MRI quality owing to the increased importance of non-susceptibility-related artifacts when comparing materials with relatively similar magnetic susceptibilities.