FLUORINE INTOXICATION OF CATTLE IN INDIA
II. EFFECT OF FLUOROSIS ON MINERAL METABOLISM
By B. N. MAJUMDAR AND S. N. RAY
Animal Nutrition Section, Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar
(Received for publication on 24 January 1946)
IN a previous paper [Majumdar, Ray and Sen, 1943], evidence has been advanced to
identify the so-called cases of osteomalacia [Mahajan, 1934-35] and rheumatoid arthritis
[Viswanathan, 1934-35] of cattle in India with fluorosis. Symptoms seen in these field
cases could be experimentally produced in normal cattle by administering sodium fluo-
ride. To study further whether the symptoms produced follow the metabolism in a phos-
phorosis, a series of mineral balance studies was carried out and the results are presented
in this paper.
EXPERIMENTAL
The effect of feeding fluorine to animals has been studied in two sets of metabolism
trials. In the first set, the animals used consisted of four groups, each containing three
adult hills bulls. All these animals were on a low phosphorus basal ration, composed of wheat
bhoosa as roughage and a concentrate mixture of groundnut cake and barley. The ani-
mals of the first group (control group) received the basal ration only, while those of
groups 2 and 3 (respectively called low and high fluorine groups) received in addition
0.1 gm. and 1.0 gm. of sodium fluoride daily per animal. The animals of the final group
(henceforth called the calcium group) received in addition to their daily ration, 1 gm. of
sodium fluoride and 2 oz. of calcium phosphate. Five months after the experiments had
started, the stock of calcium phosphate was exhausted and calcium carbonate was given instead.
The basal ration of these animals was so selected as to resemble that given under field
conditions in the suspected fluorosis zones.
In the second set of metabolism trials, the basal ration was formulated to supply
the animals with adequate calcium and phosphorus. It consisted of wheat bhoosa as rough-
age and a concentrate mixture of rape-cake and wheat-bran. Four groups, each contain-
ing three adult hills bulls, were used, and all the animals received the basal ration sup-
plemented with 3 mg. of fluorine per kg. body weight. The first group (fluorine-alone
group) received this ration, while the other three groups received in addition 2 oz. cal-
cium carbonate (calcium group), 2 oz. sodium phosphate (phosphate group) and 1 oz. alu-
minium phosphate (aluminium group), respectively. The last group was included, as some
workers [Marcovitch and Stanley, 1942] have reported that aluminium salts protect small
animals against fluorosis.
The condition of the animals in the first trial has been given in detail in a previous
paper [Majumdar et al., 1943]. The animals of the high fluorine group started losing con-
dition immediately fluorine feeding was started and died within nine months after show-
ing severe symptoms of fluorosis. At this period, the calcium group animals showed
definite but much less aggravated symptoms, while the bulls in the other two groups
remained quite normal. It may also be mentioned here that the weights of the calcium
group animals, after an initial fall, remained steady as long as calcium phosphate was
fed, but a month after calcium carbonate was substituted the animals started losing
weight rapidly.
In contrast to these findings, the animals in the second trial were in much better
condition at the end of nine months on the experimental feed. The animals of the
'fluorine-alone' group were showing only mild symptoms of fluorosis, viz. enlargement of
hooves and abnormal wearing of the incisors. The animals of the 'phosphate group'
also showed similar symptoms, whereas the animals of the aluminium group, though
ingesting high doses of fluorine, remained normal in appearance. The weights of animals
of these groups remained more or less constant throughout the experiment. The worst
sufferers were, however, the animals of the 'calcium group'. These bulls not only ex-
hibited the symptoms seen in the other two groups in a more aggravated form, but had
also lost weight considerably. The fall in weight started from the seventh month and
continued until all the three animals died within 10-11 months after the commencement
of the experiment It may be mentioned that, even after two years on the experimental
ration, the 'aluminium group' of animals has exhibited only minor symptoms, whereas
the animals in the other groups had all died of fluorosis.
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