The production of carious lesions in rats maintained on a caries-producing diet is inhibited when the ration is supplemented with 200 p.p.m. (parts per million) of iodoacetic (iodoethanoic) acid in the food, 20 p.p.m. in the drinking water, or both (1). The mechariism by which the substance exerts its effect has not been adequately described (2, 3). This study was conducted in an attempt to ascertain whether the caries-inhibiting action of iodoacetic acid is regional or systemic. EXPERIMENTALExperimental methods applied to the study of the process by which fluorine limits rat caries were employed to determine the mode of action of iodoacetic acid. These are desalivation of the animal to test whether the effect is mediated locally through the saliva (4) and parenteral administration to demonstrate a possible systemic mechanism. Topical applications of the drug to the teeth in situ (5) in experimental animals are now in progress to examine directly the potentiality of regional effectiveness.Fifty-seven female albino rats of pure inbred stock weighing 70 to 80 grams each were subjected to investigation. Litter mates were divided into 5 groups, all maintained on the Hoppert-Webber-Canniff (6) coarse corn diet throughout the experimental period of 150 days. Group I, 13 normal rats, served as control, the animals receiving no iodoacetic acid. Group II, 11 desalivated animals, received no iodoacetic acid. Group III, 12 non-desalivated rats, received subcutaneous injections of 1 cc. of a sodium iodoacetate solution every second day. The solution consisted of normal saline containing 400 p.p.m. of iodoacetate buffered with NaOH to pH 7.2. Group IV, 11 unoperated rats, received the basic ration plus 200 p.p.m. of iodoacetic acid in the drinking water. Group V, 10 desalivated animals, received a supplement of 200 p.p.m. of the substance in the food. All animals were fed food and water ad libitum and their weights recorded weekly.On completion of the experiment, the rats were sacrificed, the jaws removed,
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