Selenium tissue distribution changes after ethanol exposure during gestation and lactation: selenite as a therapy

Ethanol consumption affects maternal nutrition and antioxidant status together with the future health of their progeny. Selenium (Se) is a trace element with antioxidant activity; we will study the effect of ethanol in dams on Se bioavailability, antioxidant balance and gestational parameters. We also will study if a Se-supplemented diet (0.5 ppm) administered to ethanol-exposed dams avoids the undesirable effects provoked by ethanol. We have used four experimental groups: control (C); chronic ethanol (A); control+Se (CS) and chronic ethanol+Se (AS). Se levels in serum, urine, faeces, and several tissues were measured by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Serum glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity was determined by spectrometry. Se bioavailability is altered by ethanol, causing a decrease in Se retention, reducing Se levels in cortex, muscle, mammary gland and salivary gland while elevating Se values in heart, liver and spleen. On the other hand, Se supplementation increases some of these parameters. Serum GPx activity was decreased by ethanol, while a Se-supplemented diet restores these values to those found in controls. We have demonstrated that ethanol decreased Se retention in dams, affecting their tissues' Se deposits, decreasing GPx activity in serum, gestational parameters and the weight of their progeny. Selenite supplementation counteracts these decreasing effects, except in cortex.