Fluoride deposition in the aged human pineal gland.
The purpose was to discover whether fluoride (F) accumulates in the aged human pineal gland. The aims were to determine (a) F-concentrations of the pineal gland (wet), corresponding muscle (wet) and bone (ash); (b) calcium-concentration of the pineal. Pineal, muscle and bone were dissected from 11 aged cadavers and assayed for F using the HMDS-facilitated diffusion, F-ion-specific electrode method. Pineal calcium was determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Pineal and muscle contained 297+/-257 and 0.5+/-0.4 mg F/kg wet weight, respectively; bone contained 2,037+/-1,095 mg F/kg ash weight. The pineal contained 16,000+/-11,070 mg Ca/kg wet weight. There was a positive correlation between pineal F and pineal Ca (r = 0.73, p<0.02) but no correlation between pineal F and bone F. By old age, the pineal gland has readily accumulated F and its F/Ca ratio is higher than bone.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. jenniluke@compuserve.com
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D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D002102:Cadaver; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis; D004058:Diffusion; D017886:Durapatite / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005459:Fluorides / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D017736:Ion-Selective Electrodes; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000737:chemistry*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D017886:Durapatite; D005459:Fluorides; D002118:Calcium