ELECTRON-SPIN-RESONANCE ASSESSMENT OF SUSCEPTIBILITY OF ROE DEER (CAPREOLUS-CAPREOLUS) AND RED DEER (CERVUS-ELAPHUS) TO OILSEED RAPE (BRASSICA-NAPUS) POISONING

Ex vivo studies have been carried out on roe and red deer erythrocytes using electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Free radical formation in cells challenged with the brassica-derived haemolysin, dimethyldisulp hide, was measured using spin trapping techniques. Significantly great er amounts of radical were trapped in the roe deer cells which may rel ate to differences in the antioxidant profile of the two genotypes. Re sults suggest that roe deer have a greater risk of developing oilseed rape poisoning than red deer.