Biomedical effect of tissue contact with metallic material used for body piercing modified by DLC coatings

Body piercing is one of the most popular methods to decorate the body at present. All the time this metallic material is in contact with body fluids and living tissues. It is well documented that carbon coatings were examined and pointed as safe and biocompatible. In this connection the jewellery made of 316L steel was covered by diamond-like coatings using two methods of plasma activated chemical vapour deposition (PACVD). The biomedical effect of tissue contact with metallic material commonly used for body piercing modified by DLC coating was investigated in this paper.In vivo short- and long-term investigations were carried out on WISTAR-herd male rats. Modified samples were implanted subcutaneously for 24 h, 1, 4 and 26 weeks. After that time the animals were euthanized and the modified jewellery, surrounding tissue and spleen were harvested. Evaluation of two routine stained sections of tissues and spleen revealed that: 1) carbon coating protects tissues surrounding the metallic implants against metal ion penetrations, 2) immune reaction of tissue and spleen doesn't occur while the non-coated jewellery caused strong reaction, 3) statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) are in the numbers and types of cellular components and degree of reaction with respect to modified and non-modified jewellery.