Journal of Dental Research, Vol 64, 877-880, Copyright © 1985 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
Enamel fluoride in nursing rats with mothers drinking water with high fluoride concentrations
C. R. Drinkard, T. G. Deaton and J. W. Bawden
The purpose of this study was to determine the F levels in plasma and molar
enamel from rat pups whose mothers had received various levels of F during
pregnancy and/or lactation. Rats were started on water containing 0 (Group
I), 50 (Group II), or 100 (Group III) ppm F at the beginning of pregnancy
or on the day of delivery. The mothers and pups were killed 13 days after
delivery, and plasma F levels, milk F levels, and pup molar enamel F levels
were determined. The mean maternal plasma F concentrations were 0.02 +/-
0.005 ppm in Group I, 0.10 +/- 0.031 ppm in Group II, and 0.21 +/- 0.057
ppm in Group III. The milk F values were about twice as high as the
respective plasma concentrations. The plasma F concentration in control
pups was 0.003 +/- 0.0002 ppm, and there was a rise to 0.006 +/- 0.0002 ppm
in Group III. Enamel F concentrations were 0.62 +/- 0.13 ppm, 4.72 +/- 0.79
ppm, and 8.80 +/- 1.74 ppm, respectively. The plasma and enamel F values
obtained from pups were not significantly different between the
pre-natal/post-natal, and the post-natal-only groups. It was concluded
that: fluoride levels in the plasma and enamel of control rat pups were
much lower than those found in adult rats, such values could be increased
only slightly when high doses of F were given to the mother, and unlike
values reported for other species, rat milk fluoride concentrations were
higher than the respective plasma values.
