Abstract: To study the relationship between fluorosis and hepatocyte apoptosis and morphological changes in meat ducks, 160 8-day-old Tian-fu meat ducks were chosen and randomly divided into four groups,and 0, 350, 450 and 550 mg of sodium fluoride were added to conventional dietary per kg respectively. After challenge five ducks were killed in each group every eight day and TdT-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method was used for experimental fluorosis liver tissue handling and labeling. Percentage of hepatocyte apoptosis and morphological changes were detected on the 24th,40th and 56th day with the light microscope. TUNEL results showed that DAB staining positive cells appeared typical morphological characteristics and the percentage of apoptosis cell increased obviously compared with the control group. Fluorosis in meat ducks mainly caused early and middle hepatocyte apoptosis.With time extension and dose increase,sodium fluoride accelerated apoptosis of hepatocyte and developed into necrosis, indicating that toxic effects of excessive fluoride in vivo is closely related to hepatocyte apoptosis.

Key words: meat duck; fluorosis; hepatocytes; apoptosis