Toxic effects of fluoride on rat cerebral cortex astrocytes in vitro

OBJECTIVE To study astrocytes cellular cycle and the activities of SDH, 5'-NT and ACP in rat cerebral cortex astrocytes by NaF in vitro. METHODS Astrocytes of rat cerebral cortex were purified and cultured in vitro to obtain the highly purified cells (identified by immunochemistry of anti-GFAP). The constituent ratio of cell cycle was analyzed by FCM after the cells were cultured with different levels of NaF for different time span. Activities of SDH, 5'-NT and ACP were tested by UV colorimetry. RESULTS Cell cycle arrest transited from S phase to G2/M phase and subG1 cells increased in 1-5 mmol/L in the astrocyte cycle treated with different levels of NaF for different time span by using FCM. There was inverse correlation between the relative amount of the subG1 DNA and activities of SDH and ACP respectively (SDH: r = -0.84148, P < 0.05; ACP: r = -0.90416, P < 0.01) that were inhibited by NaF and 5 mmol/L NaF can inactivate 5'-NT in astrocytes. CONCLUSION NaF can induce cell cycle arrest from S to G2/M and inhibit activities of 5'-NT,SDH and ACP in astrocytes.