Protective Effect of SeMet on Liver Injury Induced by Ochratoxin A in Rabbits

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is second only to aflatoxin in toxicity among mycotoxins. Recent studies have shown that selenomethionine (SeMet) has a protective effect on mycotoxin-induced toxicity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect and mechanism of SeMet on OTA-induced liver injury in rabbits. Sixty 35-day-old rabbits with similar body weight were randomly divided into five groups: control group, OTA group (0.2 mg/kg OTA), OTA + 0.2 mg/kg SeMet group, OTA + 0.4 mg/kg SeMet group and OTA + 0.6 mg/kg SeMet group. Rabbits were fed different doses of the SeMet diet for 21 d, and OTA was administered for one week from day 15 (the control group was provided the same dose of NaHCO₃ solution). The results showed that 0.4 mg/kg SeMet could significantly improve the liver injury induced by OTA poisoning. SeMet supplementation can improve the changes in physiological blood indexes caused by OTA poisoning in rabbits and alleviate pathological damage to the rabbit liver. SeMet also increased the activities of SOD, GSH-Px and T-AOC and significantly decreased the contents of ROS, MDA, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, effectively alleviating the oxidative stress and inflammatory response caused by OTA poisoning. In addition, OTA poisoning inhibits Nrf2 and HO-1 levels, ultimately leading to peroxide reaction, while SeMet activates the Nrf2 signaling pathway and enhances the expression of the HO-1 downstream Nrf2 gene. These results suggest that Se protects the liver from OTA-induced hepatotoxicity by regulating Nrf2/HO-1 expression.