METABOLISM OF SMALL CONCENTRATIONS OF FLUORINE IN THE ALBINO RAT

¹ Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.

A method has been devised for the study of the metabolism of fluorine by the rat which allows the individual rat to be used throughout the experiment, thus eliminating, or at least reducing, the problem of biologic variance which is so frequently encountered even when littermates are compared. Using this method, it has been observed that the rate of retention of fluorine is apparently affected only during the first few days following the administration of fairly large doses of the element. However, the effect is not noticeable when the animal is maintained on a moderate concentration of fluorine for a relatively long period of time thereafter. This method may now be further applied to the study of metabolic availability and storage of fluorine in the presence of various inorganic ions. A few of those which are deserving of study are stannous tin (SnF₂ and SnClF), calcium, aluminum, magnesium, iron, and the anions, monofluorophosphate and fluosilicate. Perhaps one of the most important applications of this method is its utility in measuring the biologic "availability" of different chemical forms of fluorine since the metabolism (absorption, excretion, and storage) is the only sure criterion of availability.