Carbon composite materials have long and effectively been used in medical practice, which makes the direction of research on the toxicity of steel implants with diamond-like coatings topical. The purpose of the study was to assess the toxic effects of implants with diamond-like coatings on the body of experimental rats at different monitoring times based on the results of biochemical blood tests. Material and methods. The study was performed on 61 male rats; five of them were intact animals. There were also 2 groups of rats (control and experimental), 28 animals in each group. The age of animals at the beginning of the experiment was 5-6 months; the body weight was 300-400 grams. All studies were conducted in compliance with the relevant bioethical requirements in relation to experimental animals. Testing in vivo of steel implants with diamond-like carbon coatings was carried out using an experimental model that created forward lateral access to the distal metaphysis of the left femur. Animals of the control group were inserted a steel implant without a diamond-like carbon coating into the femur, and animals of the experimental group were inserted a steel implant with a coating. Blood for research was selected from animals after decapitation at 7, 14, 30, and 90 days after implantation, serum was prepared from the blood by centrifugation. In blood serum of rats, glucose, total protein, urea, creatinine, ALT and AST activity and total bilirubin content were also determined. Results and conclusions. According to the results of biochemical studies of blood of rats in the control group in the dynamics after the insertion of steel implants without diamond-like carbon coating in the femoral bone, it was found that the glucose content was higher by 24.5 % on the 7th day, creatinine decreased by 11.5 % on the 7th and 14th days after implantation and increased by 26.2 % on the 30th day; ALT activity increased by 16.9 % on the 7th day of observation, AST increased by 40.1 % and 35.0 % on the 7th and 14th days, respectively, compared with those in intact rats. The experimental group rats in dynamics after the insertion of steel implants with diamond-like carbon coating in the femur had the increased glucose content by 28.3 %, and the reduced creatinine content by 30.0 % on the 7th day after implantation; activity of the liver enzymes ALT and AST in the experimental group of rats was almost unchanged. There was an increase in ALT activity by 6.2 % on the 7th day after implantation compared with intact rats. Conclusions. The obtained results showed that in animals of the experimental group the degree of metabolic disturbances was less pronounced compared with the control group, which were inserted implants without coating.
Keywords: steel implants, femur, rats, diamond-like carbon coating, toxicity
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