Determination of the amount of tissue trace element in sheep with fluorosis

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the trace-element concentrations in muscle and kidney tissue of sheep, diagnosed with fluorosis and which were grown in the area where endemic fluorosis is commonly seen. To this end, 3-4 aged 15 sheep from the villages of Doğubayazıt district in Ağrı which were diagnosed with fluorosis and sent to slaughter, were used as fluorosis patient group; 3-4 aged 10 sheep which didn?t show any fluorosis sign were used as control group. Kidney tissue samples were taken from the animals which were diagnosed as fluorosis patient clinically and sent to slaughter. These tissue samples were analyzed on Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 800). Muscle-copper levels in fluorosis patients were found high as compare to the control group. This result was statistically significant (p<0.05). According to the result of muscle-zinc levels investigation, the zinc levels in control group was significantly higher than fluorosis patient group (p<0.01). There was no statistically difference between control group and patient gruop in terms of muscle-nickel and iron levels (p<0.05). There was no statistically remarkable result which was found in patient kidney tissue in terms of the level of copper. The concentrations of Zinc (p<0.01), Iron (p<0.01) and Nickel (p<0.05) was found statistically high in kidney tissue of patient group as compare with control group. As a result; fluorosis significantly effects the mineral metabolism in muscle and kidney, high levels of mineral in patient group were due to the deterioration of the balance of accumulation and excretion which was taken root from fluoride intoxication and further investigations should be done which will cover the enzymatic and metabolic activities of these elements.