Fatty acid and glucose metabolism in selenium deficient rats and lambs.

Fatty acid analyses were done on tissues of lambs from ewes fed purified diets, and injected with selenium and/or vitamin E in a 2 X 2 factorial treatment. The concentrations of arachidonic acid averaged 9.3% of the total fatty acid content in semitendinosus muscle from lambs given vitamin E and selenium, but averaged 19.4% in this muscle from lambs given vitamin E without selenium. Arachidonic acid comprised 28.3% and 33.7%, respectively, of the total fatty acids in livers from selenium supplemented and deficient rats. Twice as much radioactivity from [1-(14)C]acetate was recovered in rat liver phospholipid arachidonate in selenium deficient rats as in selenium supplemented ones, indicating a greater turnover rate of this fatty acid in deficient rats. Fifty-five percent of dosed 14C-glucose (either [1-(14)C] or [6-(14)C]glucose) was recovered within 3 hours as 14CO2 from selenium deficient rats. This recovery dropped to one-half this value when these rats were fed a diet containing 0.1 ppm selenium for only 7 days. This increased glucose metabolism is suggestive of a greater metabolic rate in selenium deficient animals, which may be responsible for the differences observed in tissue fatty acid composition.