The identification of selenium species in biological samples

Selenium is an essential component of glutathione peroxidase and other enzy me systems and is therefore essential for animal metabolism. It is, however , toxic at concentrations little above those required for health. Some plan ts accumulate selenium from seleniferous soils and constitute a toxic hazar d to grazing stock. The more complex organic selenium compounds that occur naturally in plants, animals and microorganisms have been characterized fol lowing their isolation or partial isolation, and have often been identified by their similarity to analogous sulphur compounds, The occurrence and ide ntification of selenium compounds in biological samples and methods for the ir analysis are reviewed. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.