Acute fluoride exposure alters myocardial redox and inflammatory markers in rats

Acute fluoride (F-) exposure adversely impairs cardiac functions. We previously reported that acute F- toxicity causes modulation in oxidant and antioxidant systems, heat shock proteins, cytoskeletal proteins and AMPK signaling proteins in the myocardium of rats. With these findings, we hypothesized that acute F- intoxication may trigger an acute myocardial inflammatory response through the activation of NF-kappa B signaling and reduction of redox signaling regulatory system. To test this hypothesis, we treated male Wistar rats with single oral doses of 45 and 90 mg/kg of F- for 24 h. The myocardium of F- treated rats showed increased expression of pNF-kappa B, pI kappa K alpha/beta eventually leading to the increased expression of downstream target TNF alpha-a major proinflammatory cytokine secreted in the inflammatory process. F- intoxication decreased the mRNA expression of redox genes-Sirt1, Sirt3, Prdx2, Glrx1, Trx1, and Trx2. In addition, we observed decreased protein expression of Nrf2, GCLC, and NQO1 in the cardiac tissues of F- treated rats. This study reveals that F- toxicity triggers myocardial inflammatory response and depletes redox signaling molecules in the myocardium of rats. We conclude that NF-kappa B activation with decreased redox gene expression might be associated with the pathophysiology of F- induced cardiac dysfunction in rats. This finding provides new insights into the cardiovascular pathophysiology in acute F- toxicity.