Fluoride Action Network

Abstract

SUMMARY: Thirty-two Wistar rats were divided randomly into four groups of eight rats each (female:male = 3:1). With one untreated group as a control group, the other three groups were administered, respectively, high fluoride in their drinking water (100 mg F/L from NaF), low iodine in their chow (0.0855 mg/kg), or both the high fluoride and low iodine together, in order to assess the effects of the three treatments on oxidative stress in the brain of offspring rats. After the animal model was established, the rats were allowed to breed, and 36 offspring rats in each group (female:male = 1:1) were randomly selected for the experiment. These rats were given the same treatment for the next 90 days as their parents. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the brain of the combined high fluoride and low iodine group were significantly higher during and at the end of the 90-day period than in the control group, but the SOD/MDA ratio in this high fluoride and low iodine group was consistently lower than in the control group. These results suggest that brain stress from high fluoride and low iodine is one of the causes of reduction in learning and memory in offspring rats.