Immunological malfunctions associated with low selenium-vitamin E diets in lambs.

Lymphoproliferative responses to phytohaemagglutinin and other phytolectins declined following prolonged exposure of lambs to a diet deficient in both selenium and vitamin E, coinciding with the development of nutritional myopathy. Supplementation restored lymphocyte responses within a week and led to a rapid decline in circulating activity of the muscle enzyme creatine kinase in serum. Lymphocyte responses of the dams remained largely unaltered throughout the experiment. There was no evidence of erythrocyte damage in myopathic lambs, concentrations of serum IgG, IgM and lysozyme were similar to those in healthy lambs, and chemiluminescence tests on whole blood samples failed to reveal a phagocytic defect in response to particulate and non-particulate stimuli. However, serum from myopathic lambs did show a reduced opsonic capacity.