Effect of dietary methionine on utilization of tissue selenium from dietary selenomethionine for glutathione peroxidase in the rat.

To study the effect of dietary methionine on the bioavailability of Se from selenomethionine ([Se]Met), weanling rats were first loaded with Se by feeding 0.5 mg Se as [Se]Met per kg diet of a low methionine (0.17% by analysis) torula yeast-based diet for 21 d, and then were fed an Se-deficient diet (less than 0.02 mg Se/kg) supplemented with 0, 0.4 or 0.9% methionine for 28 d. Plasma, liver and muscle Se increased 2.6-, 2.5- and 2.2-fold, respectively, during [Se]Met supplementation, and then the tissue Se declined exponentially during the Se-deficient diet period. Plasma, liver and muscle glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities decreased 43-50% during the [Se]Met supplementation period in spite of the increase in tissue Se. When these [Se]Met-loaded rats were fed the Se-deficient diet and supplemented with methionine, tissue GSH-Px activities increased significantly within 3 to 7 d, but then decreased for the remainder of the experiment. Calculation of the percentage of tissue Se present as Se in GSH-Px indicated that substantial Se from dietary [Se]Met was stored in tissues in a form different from GSH-Px when a low methionine diet was fed. These results indicate that the dietary methionine level can modulate the availability of Se from dietary [Se]Met and from stored tissue [Se]Met; the inability of stored [Se]Met to provide Se for GSH-Px synthesis over a prolonged period of time suggests that [Se]Met may not be an optimum form for Se supplementation.