THE EFFECT OF AGE AND SELENIUM ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN RAT-LIVER

Two age groups, 3 and 15 mo, were used to investigate whether age-asso ciated changes in some parameters related to lipid peroxidation occur in the liver of male Wistar rats and to observe possible effects of di etary selenium supplementation (0.25 and 0.50 ppm) for 12 mo on the sa me parameters. At these experimental conditions, the most important ob servation was that peroxidation did not change by aging, at least unti l 15 mo of age. In addition, the activity of Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px, EC 1.11.1.9) was higher in the liver of the older animals. It is suggested that the enzyme could have a role in the unch anged hepatic peroxidation observed in aged male rats. On the other ha nd, an effect of dietary selenium supplementation on those parameters was not observed, probably because the selenium levels were still at a n adequate plateau.