Correlation between ketone body level in selenium-deficient rats and oxidative damages

The age dependence of ketone body levels (KBLs) and oxidative damages in selenium-deficient (SeD) and normal rats were compared. The feeding SeD diets gave ketogenesis and higher KBLs especially in younger rats. However, KBLs in SeD rats seemed to decrease with their age. Feeding 0.1 mg/kg Se in water with SeD diet did not affect the KBLs in young (8 week old) rats, whereas the addition of Se reduced the KBLs in older (20 week old) rats. Blood KBLs showed some correlations with tissue damage. TBARSs showed no correlations with the tissue damages and KBLs when the values were compared between the same age, while better correlation was obtained between urinary KBLs of 6-20 week old normal rats and the liver TBARSs of 4-16 week old normal rats. The oxidative injury might induce liver damage with some delay. SeD rat kidney TBARS levels normalized by protein had some correlations with BUN and blood KBL. Kidney may be sensitive to the oxidative stresses and/or injuries. Tissue damages of SeD rats decreased with age. In contrast, oxidative injuries might be gradually accumulated in normal rat tissue. Oxidative stress can be visible by gradual accumulation of small damages during the aging, while large stress in young rats can be buffered and masked. The aging based accumulation of oxidative injuries might also be correlated with KBLs, while it might not give notable tissue damages.