. 2021 Jul 2;11:693939. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.693939

Table 3.

Engineered magnesium alloys with antibacterial properties.

Alloy system	Sample	Preparation	Bacterial strains	Antibacterial test	Antibacterial effect	Antibacterial mechanisms	Application	Reference
Mg-Cu	Mg-xCu (x = 0.03, 0.19, and 0.57 wt%)	Casting	S. aureus	Plate counting	Enhanced long-lasting antibacterial effects	Mg₂Cu intermetallic phases accelerated degradation and formation of the alkaline environment, along with Cu release	Orthopedic applications	Liu et al., 2016a
Mg-Cu	Mg-xCu (x = 0.05, 0.1 and 0.25 wt%)	Casting	E. coli, S. epidermidis, MRSA	Plate counting, bacterial viability assays, SEM, and PCR	Mg-0.25Cu exhibited excellent antibacterial performance	Cu-ion release	Treatment of orthopedic infections	Li et al., 2016
	Mg-0.25Cu		MRSA	Rabbit tibia osteomyelitis model	Effectively treated chronic osteomyelitis infection			Li et al., 2016
Mg-Cu	Mg-xCu (x = 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 wt%)	Casting and extrusion with solution treatment	S. aureus	Plate counting	Reduced viability of S. aureus	High alkalinity and Cu-ion release	Treatment of IAI	Yan et al., 2018
Mg-Al-Cu	Mg-Al-xCu (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 wt%)	Two-step mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering	S. aureus, E. coli	Disc diffusion	Prevented bacterial growth according to the Cu content	Cu-ion release	Orthopedic implant	Safari et al., 2019
Mg-Ag	Mg-xAg (x = 6, 8 wt%)	Casting followed by a solidification cooling process	S. aureus, S. epidermidis	Live/dead staining	Killing rate exceeded 90%	Ag⁺ release	Orthopedic implant	Tie et al., 2013
Mg-Ag	Mg-xAg (x = 6, 8 wt%)	Casting followed by homogenization treatment and hot extrusion	S. aureus, S. epidermidis	Live/dead staining, CLSM	Good antibacterial properties by increasing the silver content	Ag⁺ release	Bone implant	Liu et al., 2017
Mg-Zn-Y-Nd-Ag	Mg-Zn-Y-Nd-xAg (x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 wt%)	Extrusion at 320°C	S. aureus, E. coli	Plate counting	Alloy containing 0.4 wt% Ag exhibited better antimicrobial properties and mechanical property	Ag ions	Treat orthopedic infections	Feng et al., 2018
Mg-Ca-Sr-Zn	Mg–1Ca–0.5Sr–xZn (x = 0, 2, 4, 6) alloys	Extrusion at 320°C	S. aureus	Plate counting, live/dead staining, SEM	Mg-Ca-Sr-6Zn alloy exhibited strong antibacterial effect	Combination of Zn²⁺ and Sr²⁺, rapid release of hydrogen gas and OH^-	Antibacterial, biodegradable orthopedic implant	He et al., 2015
Mg-Zn-Ca	Mg-2Zn-0.5Ca	Melting, casting, extrusion, and drawing	MRSA	Plate counting, SEM	Reduced bacterial adhesion on the surface	Higher pH values and Mg-ion concentrations	Bone repair	Zhang et al., 2020a
Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr	Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr	Semi-continuous casting	E. coli, S. aureus, S. epidermidis	Spread plate, confocal CLSM, and SEM	Enhanced antibacterial activity	Zn and Zr on its surface, released Zn ions, and increased alkalinity with its degradation	Orthopedic implants	Qin et al., 2015
	Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr, Mg		S. aureus	Implant-related osteomyelitis model in rat femur	Mg and Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr reduced the risk of implant-related infections, and the latter had a better effect			Qin et al., 2015
Mg-Sr-Ga	Mg-0.1Sr, Mg-0.1Ga and Mg-0.1Sr-0.1Ga	Casting	S. aureus, E. coli, S. epidermidis	Spread plate, live/dead staining, CLSM	Mg-Sr-Ga alloys had the strongest germ-killing ability	Presence of Ga³⁺ and Sr²⁺	IAI	Gao et al., 2019
	Mg-0.1Sr, Mg-0.1Ga and Mg-0.1Sr-0.1Ga		S. aureus	In vivo implant-related osteomyelitis model in rat femur	Lowest number of S. aureus on the surface of the retrieved Ga-containing Mg rod implants			Gao et al., 2019