Selenium-containing proteins (e.g., glutathione peroxidases) are important antioxidants in neuronal defense against oxidative stress. In this study, the production of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques in the brain of the Tg2576 transgenic mice was investigated under dietary selenium-deficient conditions. The 16-week-old mice were fed a selenium-deficient diet (0.004 μg-selenium g(-1)-diet) or a selenium-a...

Introduction Research efforts have identified groups of people with low selenium intakes and presumed selenium deficiency based on low blood selenium levels. Inhabitants of New Zealand [1], Finland [2], and China [3] often have low blood selenium. Individuals with therapeutic diets low in selenium [4], people undergoing parenteral administration [5] and alcoholics with cirrhosis [6] can also be...

Selenium is an essential nutrient for animals, microorganisms and some other eukaryotes. Although selenium has not been demonstrated to be essential in vascular plants, the ability of some plants to accumulate and transform selenium into bioactive compounds has important implications for human nutrition and health, and for the environment. Selenium-accumulating plants provide unique tools to he...

An experiment was conducted to compare the effect of selenium sources on performance, Se incorporation into certain poultry tissues (blood, liver and breast muscle) and eggs, hatchability, glutathione peroxidase activities in tissues and eggs in broiler breeder. Broiler breeder hens were allocated to six diet treatments factorially arranged with three selenium sources (Sodium selenite, Selenium...

Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract and composition of the microbiota may be influenced by components of the diet, including trace elements. To understand how selenium regulates the intestinal microflora, we used high-throughput sequencing to examine the composition of gut microbiota of mice maintained on selenium-deficient, selenium-sufficient, and selenium-enriched diets. The microbiot...

BACKGROUND Selenium is part of the antioxidant defence system in animals and humans. The available selenium concentration in soil is low in many regions of the world. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of organic versus inorganic selenium supplementation on selenium status of ewes, their lambs, and slaughter lambs. METHODS Ewes on four organic farms were allocated five or si...

The projected increase in the use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) motivates the development of methods to manage consumer exposure to mercury and its environmental release at the end of lamp life. This work characterizes the time-resolved release of mercury vapor from broken CFLs and from underlying substrates after removal of glass fragments to simulate cleanup. In new lamps, mercury vapor...

AIM To determine whether selenium supplementation of parenteral nutrition with 3 micrograms/kg/day of selenious acid is safe and effective in improving the selenium status of preterm infants. METHODS Thirty eight preterm infants with mean (SEM) birthweight of 1171 (38) g and gestational age 29 (0.3) weeks were randomly allocated to a non-supplemented (PN-selenium, n = 19) or supplemented (PN+...

Selenoprotein P (Sepp1) is a plasma and extracellular protein that is rich in selenium. Deletion of Sepp1 results in sharp decreases of selenium levels in the brain and testis with dysfunction of those organs. Deletion of Sepp1 also causes increased urinary selenium excretion, leading to moderate depletion of whole-body selenium. The lipoprotein receptor apolipoprotein E receptor-2 (apoER2) bin...