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Protection against Acute Paraquat Toxicity by Dietary Selenium in the Chick¹

Department of Poultry and Avian Sciences, and Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

Experiments were conducted to determine whether both dietary vitamin E and selenium (Se) affect the acute toxicity of paraquat in the chick. Paraquat significantly stimulated the rate of NADPH-supported consumption of oxygen by the microsomal fractions of chick liver and lung, and this stimulation was decreased by addition of superoxide dismutase and/or catalase. The acute oral LD₅₀ of paraquat in the 8-day-old vitamin E- and Se-deficient chick (131 mg/kg body weight) was increased more than threefold by supplementing the diet with 0.10 ppm Se as Na₂SeO₃, (419 mg/kg body weight) but was not significantly affected by supplementing the diet with vitamin E (148 mg/kg body weight). A high fat (20%) diet did not alter the protective effect of Se against the acute toxicity of paraquat; however exposure to an oxygen-enriched atmosphere did reduce the protection by dietary Se. Dietary Se at 0.01 ppm protected against acute paraquat toxicity, whereas 0.08 ppm Se produced detectable increases in the Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase. These results indicate that the acute toxicity of paraquat in the chick is highly responsive to nutritional Se status and not vitamin E status.

KEY WORDS: • selenium • vitamin E • paraquat • chick

¹ Supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service grant ES01354. A preliminary report was presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in Anaheim, CA. April 13–18, 1980. Combs, G. F., Jr. & Peterson, F. J. (1980) Protection from paraqust toxicity by dietary selenium in the chick. Fed. Proc. 39; 556 (abs. #1533).

Manuscript received 19 July 1982.

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