[Glutathione peroxidase and selenium-vitamin E deficiency in pigs (author's transl)]

Glutathione peroxidase activity was measured, by the simple paper-fluorescent method of Board & Peter (1976), in blood samples from growing pigs(8 to 16 weeks old) originating from various production herds. The animals were divided in three different groups (Tables I and II): 1) Clinically normal animals from herds fed a selenium supplemented feed (about 0.1 ppm) (40 pigs, 5 herds). 2) Clinically normal animals from herds fed rations low in selenium feed (18 pigs, 3 herds). 3) Clinically normal pigs from litters fed rations with unknown selenium content and with at least one pig having died from Mulberry heart disease (MHD) or Hepatosis dietetica (HD) (Diagnosed at the State Veterinary Serum Laboratory) (40 pigs, 7 herds). The glutathione peroxidase activity was expressed as the reaction time (min.) corrected for haemoglobin concentration, as shown, in Fig. 1. and Equation A. The activity in whole blood was found significantly higher (P less than 0.001) in Group 1 than that in Group 2. The mean activity in Group 3 was significantly higher than in Group 2 (P less than 0.001) and significantly lower than in Group 1 (P less than 0.001). It is concluded that estimation of glutathione peroxidase activity may be useful in evaluating the "selenium status" in pigs.