Sodium fluoride solution was injected i.p. to three groups of rats at a dose equivalent to 0.1 LD50 three times a week up to 18 injections. Two out of these groups and two out of three groups were sham-injected with normal saline and were exposed to the whole body impact of a 25 mT static magnetic field (SMF) for 2 or 4 hr a day, 5 times a week. Following the exposure, various functional and biochemical indices were evaluated along with histological examination and morphometric measurements of the femur in the differently exposed and control rats. The mathematical analysis of the combined effects of the SMF and fluoride based on the a response surface model demonstrated that, in full correspondence with what we had previously found for the combined toxicity of different chemicals, the combined adverse action of a chemical plus a physical agent was characterized by a tipological diversity depending not only on particular effects these types were assessed for but on the dose and effect levels as well. From this point of view, the indices for which at least one statistically significant effect was observed could be classified as identifying (I) mainly single-factor action; (II) additive unidirectional action; (III) synergism (superadditive unidirectional action); (IV) antagonism, including both subadditive unidirectional action and all variants of contradirectional action.
Health effects of occupational exposure to static magnetic field in a chloralkali plant
