The Effect of Sodium Fluoride on Catecholamine Levels in Tissues from Developing Rats

초록

Catecholamine levels were determined in newborn rats treated with large doses of sodium fluoride (10 mg/kg) for varying periods of time. When fluoride treatment was started on the fifth day after birth and continued daily to the thirty-fifth day of life, decreased catecholamine levels were observed in the heart, kidney and liver. Daily fluoride treatment from the fifteenth through the thirty-fifth day after birth failed to influence cardiac, kidney or liver catecholamines. Neither treatment regimen affected adrenal epinephrine or norepinephrine levels. These experiments suggest that fluoride may be affecting catecholamine biosynthetic mechanisms which are developing during the fifth to tenth days of life.