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Comparative Studies of Selenium-75 (Selenite and Selenomethionine) Absorption from Various Milk Diets in Suckling Rats¹

Department of Pediatrics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73190

Selenium (Se) absorption was studied in human milk, bovine milk and infant formula (Similac) using suckling rats as a model. The effect of age on Se absorption from the three milk diets extrinsically labeled with ⁷⁵Se, either as selenite or selenomethionine, was also investigated. Milk diets were fed by gastric intubation and the radioactivity in the carcass, gastrointestinal tract and the liver were measured 3 h after feeding. There was no difference in [⁷⁵Se]selenite absorption from the three milk diets between 8–20 d of age. However, significantly higher quantity of ⁷⁵Se was absorbed from all three milk diets by 20-d-old rats than by the younger rats (46 vs. 32%). This increase in [⁷⁵Se]selenite absorption with advancing age is opposite to what has been found for most other trace elements. When rats were fed milk diets labeled with [⁷⁵Se]selenomethionine, the absorption of ⁷⁵Se was approximately twofold higher in all age groups compared with ⁷⁵Se absorption from selenite. No difference in [⁷⁵Se]selenomethionine absorption existed among the three milk diets in 8- or 10-d-old suckling rats. However, at 15 d of age [⁷⁵Se]selenomethionine absorption from human milk was higher (82%) than from either bovine milk (72%) or infant formula (72%). Between 8 and 20 d of age, absorption of [⁷⁵Se]selenomethionine from the three milk diets decreased with advancing age. Adding sodium selenate to increase the total nonradioactive Se of human milk, bovine milk or infant formula to 100 ng/mL (endogenous plus the added selenium) did not affect the absorption of either [⁷⁵Se]selenomethionine or [⁷⁵Se]selenite.

KEY WORDS: • selenium • absorption • milk • infant formula • age effect

¹ This work was supported by National Institute of Health Grant HD-16730 to W. Y. Chan.

Manuscript received 23 July 1986. Revision accepted 19 March 1986.