Possible Association Between Nickel and Multiple Osteomas of the Mandible in a Gir Bullock

A 10-year-old Gir bullock was presented with four contiguous hard nodular submucosal masses attached to the right rostral mandible. Overgrown masses were resected surgically and submitted for microstructural, elemental, and molecular spectroscopic analyses. An osteoma was diagnosed histopathologically. Elemental analysis by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy revealed the presence of Ca, P, Sr, S, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Fe. Levels of the trace elements Fe, Zn, and Cu in the mandible mass were 2.39, 1.86, and 1.25 times higher, respectively, than those of normal bone. Nickel was detected in the mandible mass, but not in the normal bone. Molecular Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the presence of inorganic ν₂ CO₃^2-, ν₃ PO₄^3-, and OH^- in addition to organic collagen amide B, amide I, amide II, and amide III chemical functional groups. Multiple osteomas of the mandible in humans are a feature of Gardner syndrome and have not been recognized in animals so far. This could be the first report of multiple osteomas of the mandible in a Gir bullock associated with nickel-induced epigenetic mutation.