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Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331
This investigation was undertaken to study the effects of selenium deficiency on tissue sulfhydryl compounds in rats and lambs. No significant differences were found in any sulfhydryl fractions in liver, heart or kidney of normal and selenium-deficient (WMD) lambs. A significant decrease of total and protein sulfhydryl groups was found in muscle of WMD lambs compared to normals while a significant increase in nonprotein sulfhydryl and reduced glutathione was found in WMD lamb muscle. No increase in disulfide bonds was found in the muscle of deficient lambs to account for the decrease in sulfhydryls, suggesting they were not being oxidized to disulfides. Livers from selenium-deficient rats had a significantly higher content of total and nonprotein sulfhydryl compared to selenium-supplemented rats. The opposite trend was observed for the protein sulfhydryl groups. The results suggest the involvement of selenium in the metabolism of sulfhydryl compounds.
KEY WORDS: sulfhydryls glutathione selenium deficiency
1 Published with the approval of the director of Oregon State Agricultural Experiment Station as Technical Paper no. 3359. Supported by Public Health Service Research Grant no. NS 07413 from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and AM 13870 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases.
2 This communication is part of a research project submitted by Margaret A. Broderins to the Graduate Faculty of Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M. A. degree.
Manuscript received 5 June 1972.