| 6-month study |
Chronic (>90 days) |
The rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, e.g., normal control group (drinking
water containing less than 0.5 mg/L of sodium fluoride, NaF), lower fluoride
exposed group (drinking water containing 5mg/L NaF) and higher fluoride exposed
group (drinking water containing 50 mg/L NaF). During the study, rats were housed
in stainless-steel cages suspended in stainless-steel racks, and the treated water and
food were administered to the animals ad libitum. The rats were examined at the
sixth month after feeding NaF.; Seventy-two SD(Sprague Dawley) rats (half males and half females, and weighting
90–120 g) were purchased from the Experimental Animal Center in Guizhou,
China, and ethical permission for these experiments was obtained from the regional
ethical committee for animal studies in Guizhou. The humidity ranged from 30% to
55% and temperature remained between 22 ?C and 25 ?C. The rats were acclimatized
for 1 week in a housing facility before treatment. |