A laboratory experiment was conducted to compare the toxicological response and metabolism of inorganic fluoride by three species of wild mammals and laboratory white mice (Mus musculus L.). The experimental populations of the wild species--the short-tailed field vole (Microtus agrestis L.), the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus L.) and the the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus L.)--were laboratory reared from wild stock, and all test animals were exposed to 0, 40 or 80 microgram F per ml in their drinking water for up to 84 days. The 40 and 80 microgram F per ml treatments induced premature mortalities in M. agrestis and C. glareolus only. Differential intakes, absorption and retention of fluoride were evident between M. musculus and M. agrestis, the two species subject to cage studies of fluoride metabolism budgets. Interspecific variation in accumulation of fluoride with time was also evident between all four species as regards the femur, molars and incisors. Severe dental lesions were apparent in species surviving the 80 microgram ml(-1) treatment for 84 days. Overall, however, there were few clear differences in inherent species sensitivity to fluoride, the interspecific variation in metabolism and accumulation rates being attributable mainly to variation in intake.
Vegetation established naturally on three industrial sites contaminated by either airborne or soilborne fluorides was used to formulate dietary feed for a laboratory‐reared population of field voles (Microtus ugrestis L.), an herbivorous species indigenous to all three locations. Animals exposed to laboratory diets containing 100–300 mg F kg‐1 derived from vegetation from around the aluminium smelter and fluorochemical works showed reduced live weight gain, between 40 and 100% mortality and developed marked dental lesions. These comprised banding of the enamel, loss of colour and erosion of the cutting surfaces of the incisors, and dentine cavitation and erosion of the grinding faces of the molar teeth. These morphological changes were accompanied by excessive accumulation of fluoride in the teeth. Voles consuming a diet of vegetation from the mine tailings site with a similar level of fluoride (100 mg kg‐1) as for the other industrial locations, showed only slight dental changes and no weight loss or early mortality. This pattern for laboratory‐bred voles is similar to that experienced in populations of this species in the wild, and the contrast in the severity of the dental lesions is ascribed to intersite differences in the chemical speciation and bioavailability of fluoride.
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