Abstract

Young rats were maintained, over a 2-week period, on laboratory chow and distilled water or water supplemented with 200 ppm fluoride. Metaphyseal and diaphyseal bone of the femurs and tibias of control and treated rats were analyzed. After fluoride treatment there was a decrease of lipid and citrate content and a decreased glucose utilization and lactate formation. The decrease in lipid content in bone from fluoride-treated rats was not mediated through diminished food intake or diminished weight gain of the experimental animals. It was accompanied by a significant decrease in, and alteration of the pattern of, lipid formation from acetate-J4C and citrate-1% . The decrease in citrate content was due to neither a decreased formation from exogenous acetate nor to an increased utilization of citrate. In contrast to bone, there was no fluoride effect on the total lipid or citrate content of liver. Femurs of fluoride-treated rats exhibited a decrease in mechanical strength as manifested by a decrease in ultimate stress to breaking as well as decrease in limit and modulus of elasticity.