The Enhancement of the Toxicity of Sodium Fluoride in the Rat by High Dietary Fat

Abstract

Increasing the dietary fat from 5 to 15%, in a purified ration increased the growth-retarding effect of a diet which contained 0.1% of sodium fluoride. It was established further that the protein-energy relationship was not responsible for the retardation effect of high fat on rats fed sodium fluoride. Dietary supplements of pantothenate, methionine or ascorbic acid, alone or in combination, did not alter the growth-retarding effect of added dietary fat when the ration contained 0.1% of sodium fluoride. Neither did the subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection of ATP, pantothenate or cysteine, either singly or in combination, prevent the enhancing effects of added fat on the development of fluorosis in the rat. Fifteen per cent of butter fat as well as 15% of cottonseed oil were equally effective in enhancing the toxic action of 0.1% of sodium fluoride in the ration of the rat. The enhancing effect of added dietary fat could not be attributed to the chain length of the component fatty acids of the fat fed. In these experiments the feeding of increased levels of fat and diets containing 0.1% sodium fluoride caused an increased deposition of fluorine in the femurs.