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Chemical Forms of Selenium in Rat Tissues after Administration of Selenite or Selenomethionine¹

Department of Agricultural Chemistry Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331

The chemical forms of selenium (Se) were determined in erythrocyte and liver proteins after injection of ⁷⁵Se as either sodium selenite or selenomethionine (Se-Met) in male weanling rats. Gel-filtration chromatography (Sephadex G-150) of erythrocyte lysate revealed labeling of four fractions corresponding to void volume proteins, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), hemoglobin (Hb) and low-molecular-weight materials. Acid hydrolysates of erythrocyte protein fractions and whole liver were analyzed by ion-exchange chromatography (Dionex DC6A). Void volume proteins contained principally selenocysteine (⁷⁵Se-Cys) in [⁷⁵Se]selenite-injected animals. This material contained both ⁷⁵Se-Met and ⁷⁵Se-Cys 1 d postinjection in ⁷⁵Se-Met-injected animals, but primarily ⁷⁵Se-Cys at 20 d afterwards. GPx contained ⁷⁵Se as ⁷⁵Se-Cys regardless of the selenium compound injected. Hb of ⁷⁵Se-Met-injected animals contained principally ⁷⁵Se-Met at both 1 and 20 d postinjection. In [⁷⁵Se]selenite-injected animals, ⁷⁵Se was present in hemoglobin as two unidentified forms. In acid hydrolysates of whole liver ⁷⁵Se was recovered principally as ⁷⁵Se-Cys from animals injected with [⁷⁵Se]selenite. For animals injected with ⁷⁵Se-Met, liver ⁷⁵Se was present initially as ⁷⁵Se-Met, but after 5 d the majority of liver ⁷⁵Se was as Se-Cys. No differences were found in deposition of ⁷⁵Se in liver, kidney, testes, erythrocytes or plasma in rats injected with labeled selenite or Se-Met, but a significantly greater retention was found in muscle of Se-Met-injected rats as compared to those given selenite.

KEY WORDS: • sodium selenite • selenomethionine • selenocysteine • erythrocytes • liver • rats • ion-exchange chromatography • gel filtration

¹ Published with the approval of Oregon State University Experiment Station as Technical Paper 7492. This study was supported by Public Health Service Research Grants NS-07413 from National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and AM-33272 from National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Manuscript received 15 April 1985. Revision accepted 25 April 1986.