Ultrastructural histocytopathology of spleen of rat (Rattus norvegicus) induced by fluoride toxicity

Abstract

Drinking water is one of the largest sources of fluoride. Excessive intake of fluoride results in all the three forms of fluorosis viz. Dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis and Non-skeletal fluorosis. Our present experiment was designed to study the non-skeletal fluorosis. The experimental animal Rattus norvegicus were randomly distributed into two groups of eight animals each. One group was given gavages of NaF at 50mg/kg-bw/day for 60 days along with the diet and the other group was paired fed which served as control. After 60 days the animals of both the group were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, the abdominal cavity was opened and spleens were dissected out. The tissue was further processed for light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy and analysed. Both light microscopic and electron microscopic observations showed damage to the reticular cells and reticular fibers of the spleen in the fluoride treated group. This may adversely affect the structure and function of the spleen grossly inhibiting the antigenic reactions resulting into the declination of the immune power.