Microarray analysis of selenium-depleted and selenium-supplemented mice

Nutritional selenium deficiency is associated with Keshan disease in humans and white muscle disease in ruminant livestock. In this study, mice were fed a selenium-deficient diet for three generations. Female mice from the third depleted generation of these mice were given water containing either no added selenium or 0.1 or 1.0 ppm selenium as sodium selenate; DNA microarrays were used to compare gene expression in the muscle from mice fed the selenium diets to that from mice remaining on the depleted diet. The most prominent expression increases were observed with Ptger2 (a prostaglandin E receptor), Tcrb-V13 (a T-cell receptor beta), Tcf-7 (a T-cell transcription factor), and Lck (lymphocyte protein tyrosine kinase), and the major consistent decrease was Vav2, an oncogene in mice consuming the selenium containing diets.