Dietary antioxidants and the biochemical response to oxidant inhalation : III. Selenium influence on mouse lung response and tolerance to ozone.

We fed female strain A/St mice selenium (Se) test diets containing either no Se (−Se) or 1 ppm Se (+Se) for 11 wk. Both diets contained 55 ppm vitamin E. We then exposed three groups of mice from each dietary regimen to either 0.8 ppm (1568 μg/m3) O3 (low-level) continuously for 5 d, 10.0 ppm (19,600 μg/m3) O3 (high-level) for 12 h, or filtered room air, where the latter served as a control for both O3 exposures. After O3 exposures we analyzed the lungs for various physical and biochemical parameters, and compared the results to those obtained from the air controls. The results showed that the difference in dietary Se intake produced an eightfold difference in Se content and a three-fold difference in glutathione peroxidase (GP) activity in the lung, but few changes in other lung parameters. With low-level O3 exposure, NADPH production increased significantly in +Se mice, but did not change in −Se mice. With high-level O3 exposure we observed comparable effects for both dietary regimens, including animal mortality, which was 24% for −Se and 14% for +Se mice. Thus, it seems that diminished GP activity resulting from Se deficiency and the ensuing lack of increase in NADPH production were poorly correlated with mouse tolerance to O3. The lung Se content increased in both dietary regimens after O3 exposure, but the increase was greater after high-level O3 exposure. This suggests a “mobilization” of Se to the lung under O3 stress. It is possible that such a mobilization contributes to the lung reserve of antioxidants, and hence the comparable mortality in both dietary Se regimens.