From surface coverage to biofilm involvement: Hyaluronic acid influences TiZr alloy corrosion under sterile and Staphylococcus aureus biofilm conditions.
Wei Huanhuan H, Yang Fulian F, Yuan Feiman F, Wu Jiajie J et al.
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is widely used for intra-articular injection to improve joint lubrication and mobility, but its influence on microbiologically influenced corrosion of joint implants remains unclear. Here, we investigated how HA affects the corrosion behavior of TiZr alloy in simulated body fluid (SBF) under sterile and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) biofilm conditions. Surface observations and chemical analysis indicated that HA-related surface coverage was formed on the TiZr surface and reduced surface damage under sterile conditions, suggesting a protective role of HA. However, in the presence of S. aureus biofilm, HA showed contrasting effects at different immersion stages, slightly reducing corrosion at the early stage compared with the S. aureus group but aggravating biofilm-associated localized damage after prolonged exposure. Contact angle analysis showed decreases of 68.1% and 57.1% within 1 min in the S. aureus + HA group on days 7 and 14, respectively, indicating that HA promoted rapid surface wetting and altered the interfacial wetting behavior in the biofilm environment. At these time points, electrochemical tests further confirmed corrosion acceleration, with the S. aureus + HA group showing the highest corrosion current densities among all groups, reaching 7.972 × 10-6 A cm-2 and 2.715 × 10-6 A cm-2, respectively. These results demonstrate that the effect of HA on TiZr alloy corrosion shifts from protection under sterile conditions to corrosion aggravation during prolonged S. aureus biofilm exposure. This finding suggests that HA-related effects on biofilm formation and implant corrosion should be considered when assessing the corrosion risk of TiZr joint implants under infection-related conditions.