Metals are widely utilized as implant materials for bone fixtures as well as stents. Biodegradable versions of these implants are highly desirable since patients do not have to undergo a second surgery for the materials to be removed. Attractive options for such materials are zinc silver alloys since they also offer the benefit of being antibacterial. However, it is important to investigate the effect of the degradation products of such alloys on the surrounding cells, taking into account silver cytotoxicity. Here we investigated zinc alloyed with 1 % of silver (Zn1Ag) and how differently concentrated extracts (1 %-100 %) of this material impact human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). More specifically, we focused on free radical generation and oxidative stress as well as the impact on cell viability. To determine free radical production we used diamond-based quantum sensing as well as conventional fluorescent assays. The viability was assessed by observing cell morphology and the metabolic activity via the MTT assay. We found that 1 % and 10 % extracts are well tolerated by the cells. However, at higher extract concentrations we observed severe impact on cell viability and oxidative stress. We were also able to show that quantum sensing was able to detect significant free radical generation even at the lowest tested concentrations.

Department of Biomedical Engineering University of Groningen University Medical Center Groningen Antonius Deusinglaan 1 9713AW Groningen the Netherlands

Department of Biomedical Engineering University of Groningen University Medical Center Groningen Antonius Deusinglaan 1 9713AW Groningen the Netherlands; Department of Health Technology Danish Technical University Ørsteds Plads DK 2800 Kongens Lyngby Denmark

Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Kamenice 753 5 625 00 Brno Czechia; Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science Polish Academy of Sciences Reymonta 25 30 059 Kraków Poland; Department of Biomedical Engineering University of Groningen University Medical Center Groningen Antonius Deusinglaan 1 9713AW Groningen the Netherlands

Faculty of Non ferrous Metals AGH University of Science and Technology Mickiewicza 30 30 059 Kraków Poland

Faculty of Physics University of Vienna Boltzmanngasse 5 1090 Wien Austria

Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science Polish Academy of Sciences Reymonta 25 30 059 Kraków Poland

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