Effect of fluoroacetate on the physiological distal drift of rat molar.

The effect of fluoroacetate (FA) on the physiological distal drift of the rat molar was investigated in this study. FA produced a dose-dependent inhibition of the bone formation ratio on the modeling side. The total number of osteoclast population on the remodeling side decreased with the increase of the dose of FA, but not dose-dependently. Therefore, the physiological distal drift seemed to be inhibited by the FA injections and the rate of the distal drift seemed to be not proportional to the total number of osteoclasts on the remodeling side. Among the osteoclast population, the number of multinucleated cells in contact with the bone surface (on-bone multinucleated osteoclasts) decreased considerably when the physiological distal drift was inhibited by the FA injections. The availability of the change in the number of the on-bone multinucleated osteoclasts as a marker of the degree of bone resorption was also discussed.