Vitamin K1 and skeletal fluorosis

Vitamin K1 and Skeletal Fluorosis Skeletal fluorosis is characterized with decreased bone mechanical strength despite of increased bone mass. This occurs result of mineralization defect following increased osteoid volume and bone mineral size. On the other hand, recent studies demonstrated that vitamin K1 may regulate bone remodeling, bone mineral formation and size. On the basis of these data, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of vitamin K1 on fluorotic long bone morphology, mechanical strength, and on femoral and vertebral histology. Therefore, 4 weeks old male Wistar rats (n= 40) randomly divided into three groups. The control group (n= 14) received bottled water, the sodium fluoride (NaF) group (n= 13) received bottled water contained 125 ppm NaF and the vitamin K1 group (n= 13) received bottled water contained 125 ppm NaF together with 0.2 mg/g/day vitamin K1 via gavaj for 12 weeks. The rats were allowed to have food and water ad libitum. Sixteen weeks old rats were eutenized with cervical dislocation. The left femur and the tibiae, the right femur and lumbar- 1 (L-1) vertebra were removed. Morphological measurements, biomechanical test and histological evaluations were performed on bone specimens. The results of this study revealed that vitamin K1 prevents NaF- induced morphological, biomechanical and histological changes which are typical for skeletal fluorosis. Therefore, the results of this study showed that vitamin K1 may have a therapeutic effect on skeletal fluorosis. Key Words: Vitamin K1, Sodium fluoride, Skeletal fluorosis, Animal study, Biomechanics. XI «* *$%&&