The effect of selenium and vitamin E deficiencies on the fate of arachidonic acid in rat isolated lungs.

The fate of exogenous 14C-arachidonic acid (14C-AA) was investigated in the isolated lungs of rats fed selenium and vitamin E deficient diet or diets supplemented with selenium and/or vitamin E. When 80 nmol of 14C-AA was infused into the pulmonary circulation most of the infused 14C-AA was found in different phospholipid and neutral lipid fractions of the perfused lungs. Only less than ten percent of the infused radioactivity was recovered in the perfusion effluent. The amount of arachidonate metabolites in the perfusion effluent was negligible, and most of the radioactivity in the perfusion effluent consisted of unmetabolized arachidonate. Selenium deficiency had no significant effect on the distribution of 14C-AA in different lung lipid fractions. However, in the lungs of vitamin E deficient rats the amount of radioactivity was slightly increased in the neutral lipid fraction, which was due to the increased amount of 14C-AA in the diacylglycerols. The amount of radioactivity was increased especially in the 1,3-diacylglycerols. The amount of radioactivity was increased especially in the 1,3-diacylglycerols. The amount of 14C-AA in the triacylglycerols and in different phospholipids was not significantly changed. The present study might indicate that selenium deficiency has no significant effect on the fate of exogenous arachidonic acid in isolated rat lungs, and that vitamin E deficiency would slightly increase the amount of arachidonic acid in the diacylglycerols.