The biocompatibility of gallium-based liquid metals with blood and serum

Abstract

Summary: Excellent biocompatibility of liquid metals is the basis for developing biomedical applications, such as implantable devices, drug delivery, and tumor therapy. Especially, a systematic study to reveal the influence of gallium-based liquid metals on the composition of blood while they are used in the human body is vital but missing. Here, the compatibility of three kinds of frequently used gallium-based liquid metals with human blood and serum was explored systematically. The results show that treating blood and serum with gallium-based liquid metals did not cause hemolysis, suggesting red blood cells are not damaged or ruptured, and treatment had a negligible effect on the components in the blood. Additionally, the serum levels of glucose, cholesterol, and liver function molecules showed no change after adding liquid metals. These findings suggest that liquid metals have high compatibility with human blood and serum and are conductive to be applied in the fields of biomedical engineering.

Keywords

• Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials science