Acute selenium toxicosis in sheep

Thesis/Dissertation · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6129132

Blodgett, D J

The toxicity, toxicokinetics, and progressive pathological changes produced by sodium selenite in sheep following parenteral administration were evaluated. In the intramuscular study, the LD/sub 50/ for sodium selenite was 0.7 mg selenium/kg body weight. In the continuous intravenous infusion study, a gradient of tissue selenium/kg body weight with a standard error of 0.035 over a 192 hour observation period. The most evident clinical signs were dyspnea and depression . At necropsy, the most consistent lesions were edematous lungs and pale mottled hearts. Highest tissue selenium concentrations in declining order were found in the liver, kidney, and heart. Four sheep injected intravenously with 0.7 mg selenium/kg body weight survived the 192 hour post-injection observation period. Semilogarithmic plots of blood selenium concentration versus time were triphasic. The ..cap alpha.. and ..gamma.. rate constants of sheep administered a single dose of selenium intravenously were significantly greater than those obtained when sheep were injected intramuscularly with 0.7 mg selenium concentrations was attained with 4, 8, and 12 hour infusions at steady state concentrations of 2500, 3000, and 3500 ppb selenium in the blood. The heart was the target organ of acute selenium toxicosis. A dose-response relationship was observed in the heart with degeneration evident in all hearts and necrosis present in the 2 hearts with the highest concentrations of selenium.

• OSTI ID: 6129132
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560305* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Vertebrates-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BLOOD
BODY
BODY FLUIDS
BUILDUP
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
ELEMENTS
HEART
MAMMALS
MATERIALS
ORGANS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RUMINANTS
SELENITES
SELENIUM
SELENIUM COMPOUNDS
SEMIMETALS
SHEEP
TOXICITY
UPTAKE
VERTEBRATES