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Selenium-75 Metabolism in the Gestating Ewe and Fetal Lamb: Effects of Dietary -Tocopherol and Selenium¹

Agricultural Research Laboratory of the University of Tennessee Oak Ridge, Tennessee²

Forty-eight pregnant ewes were fed a purified ration containing urea as the sole nitrogen source. Selenium and -tocopherol were added separately and in combination to the basal ration. Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGO-T) in young pregnant ewes was increased after the animals had received the -tocopherol-deficient ration for 9 weeks; selenium delayed but did not prevent this increase. No changes in SGO-T values were observed in the aged ewes during the 18-week experimental period. Selenium supplementation reduced the apparent absorption of an oral dose of Se⁷⁵ and increased the urinary Se⁷⁵ excretion. Very high concentrations of radioselenium were noted in kidney and spleen samples from the selenium-deficient ewes, implicating these tissues as prime areas of importance in selenium metabolism. Intracellular particulate matter separations revealed an increase in Se⁷⁵ content of the liver microsomes and kidney nuclei in tissues from selenium-deficient ewes. The radioselenium distribution pattern in fetal tissues was similar to that in maternal tissues. A definite placental barrier was observed, with single fetuses having twice the concentration of Se⁷⁵ as twin fetuses. The expected severe gross pathological lesions of -tocopherol and selenium deficiency were not observed in these studies based on a ration which was not highly auto-oxidizable.

² Operated by the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission under Contract no. AT-40-1-GEN-242.

Manuscript received 24 April 1964.