| Developmental study |
Developmental |
Beginning with the day of delivery, these females were divided into control and experimental groups as follows: (1) control group: received double distilled water; (2) high fluoride (HiF) group: received sodium fluoride (150 mg/L); (3) high lead (HiPb) group: received lead acetate (300 mg/L); (4) high fluoride plus high lead (HiF + HiPb) group: received sodium fluoride (150 mg/L) and lead acetate (300 mg/L).; Adult Wistar albino rats were obtained from the experimental animal center of Shanxi Medical University and then kept in plastic cages in our laboratory with their standard diets. After 1-week quarantine period, one male and two females were put in a cage together for mating. As soon as the vaginal plug was established, the females were separated and moved to separate cages….Before postnatal week 2, the rat pups derived their nutrients only from maternal milk. After week 2, they gradually began to eat feed and drink water, concomitantly with suckling maternal milk. At the age of postnatal week 3, the pups ate and drank entirely by themselves and given the same treatment as their parental generation. All of the offspring had free access to food and water until testing at week 6, 8, 10, and 12, and maintained their normal diets under standard temperature (22–25 ?C), 12/12-h light/dark cycle, ventilation, and hygienic conditions. The study design was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of China. |