Influence of organic selenium supplementation on the accumulation of toxic and essential trace elements involved in the antioxidant system of chicken

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the interactions between selenium (Se) and various trace elements, both toxic and essential, involved in the antioxidant system. A total of 128 day-old chicks (Gallus gallus, broilers) were used to investigate the effect of Se yeast supplementation on the accumulation of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). There were four replicates of four dietary treatments: T1 (basal diet with no added Se, analyzed to contain 0.21 mg kg⁻¹), T2 (T1 with 0.15 mg kg⁻¹ Se added), T3 (T1 with 0.3 mg kg⁻¹ Se) and T4 (T1 with 3.0 mg kg⁻¹ Se). At week 4 and 6, two chickens per replicate pen were sacrificed for whole blood, breast muscle and liver sampling. Samples were analyzed by ICP–MS. Supplementation with Se-yeast, not only increased Se concentration but also reduced Cd concentration in the tissues. Selenium was negatively correlated with Cd and positively correlated with Zn, Cu and Fe. Cadmium was negatively correlated with Zn and Cu. Zinc was positively correlated with Cu. Iron was negatively correlated with Cu and uncorrelated with Zn and Cd. The balance between Se, Cu, Fe and Zn is important for proper antioxidant defense since they are an integral part of various antioxidant enzymes.

Keywords:

• antioxidant system
• cadmium
• chicken
• copper
• iron
• selenium
• zinc

Acknowledgements

A.C. Pappas is grateful to Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) for postdoctoral funding. We are grateful to NUEVO S.A. (N Artaki, Euboia, Greece) for providing Sel-Plex®, to E. Komaitis for excellent technical assistance and to A. Kominakis for useful discussions.