Methionine in Selenium Poisoning*

The problem of selenium poisoning in farm animals has excited interest both from an academic and practical point of view. However, since the pioneering work of K. W. Franke and his coworkers, and the discovery of selenium in toxic grains by Robinson,’ relatively less attention has been paid to the mode of action of selenium compounds or means of detoxification. At an early date Hofmeister (1) reported that selenium salts were eliminated from the lungs in the form of volatile methylated derivatives. Inasmuch as the compounds were not isolated, this conclusion has been questioned (2, 3). The possibility that selenium may take the place of sulfur in the synthesis of mercapturic acids has been suggested by the observations of Moxon et al. (4). The feeding of bromobenzene to selenized steers resulted in a reduction of the selenium content of the blood with a corresponding rise in urinary selenium. Other workers (5), however, were not able to duplicat,e these findings in rabbits. The observation that arsenite is capable of alleviating selenium toxicity in animals is at present inexplicable (6). The present communication deals primarily with the toxicity of selenate and its counteraction by methionine in yeast.