Developmental Toxicity Evaluation of Sodium Fluoride Administered to Rats and Rabbits in Drinking Water

Sodium fluoride (NaF; Cas No. 7681-49-4) is used in fluoridatingmunicipal water supplies, resulting in chronic exposure of millionsof people worldwide. Because of a lack of pertinent developmentaltoxicity studies in the literature, sodium fluoride was administeredad libitum in deionized/filtered drinking water (to mimic humanexposure) to Sprague-Dawley-derived rats (26/group) on GestationDays (GD) 6 through 15 at levels of 0, 50, 150, or 300 ppm andNew Zealand White rabbits (26/group) on GD 6 through 19 at levelsof 0, 100, 200, or 400 ppm. Higher concentrations via drinkingwater were not practicable due to the poor palatability of sodiumfluoride. Drinking water (vehicle) contained less than 0.6 ppmsodium fluoride (limit of detection) and sodium fluoride contentof the feed was 12.4 ppm fluoride (rats) and 15.6 ppm fluoride(rabbits). Maternal food, water, body weights, and clinicalsigns were recorded at regular intervals throughout these studies.Animals were killed on GD 20 (rats) or 30 (rabbits) and examinedfor implant status, fetal weight, sex, and morphological development.In the high-dose group of both studies there was an initialdecreased maternal body weight gain which recovered over timeand a decreased water consumption—attributed to decreasedpal atability. No clear clinical signs of toxicity were observed.Maternal exposure to sodium fluoride during organogenesis didnot significantly affect the frequency of postimplantation loss,mean fetal body weight/litter, or external, visceral or skeletalmalformations in either the rat or the rabbit. The NOAEL formaternal toxicity was 150 ppm sodium fluoride in drinking water({small tilde}18 mg/kg/day) for rats, and 200 ppm ({small tilde}18mg/kg/day) for rabbits. The NOAEL for developmental toxicitywas 300 ppm sodium fluoride ({small tilde}27 mg/kg/day) forrats and 400 ppm ({small tilde}29 mg/kg/day) for rabbits administeredduring organogenesis in drinking water. The total exposure tofluoride (mg F/kg body weight/day from food and drinking watercombined) in the mid- and high-dose groups for both specieswas >100-fold higher than the range at 0.014–0.08 mgF/kg/day estimated for a 70-kg person from food and fluoridated(1 ppm) drinking water.