Author(s):
Santos, Maria Cristina 
; Nève, Jean ; Pavão, Maria Leonor ; Viegas-Crespo, Ana Maria
Date: 2000
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/2788
Origin: Repositório da Universidade dos Açores
Subject(s): Antioxidant Defenses; Selenium
Description
Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Trace Elements in Man and Animals (TEMA 10), held May 2-7, 1999, in Evian, France. Free radicais are highly reactive chemical species that can oxidize and damage essential biological molecules. Their formation is a result of endogenous metabolism or of xenobiotics bio-transformation, but under normal physiological conditions cells are protected against oxidative challenge by enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidants (Sies and Groot, 1992; Yu, 1994). Selenium (Se) is a trace element which essentiality for animais and humans is now well established. The element performs its functions mainly through selenoproteins and several glutathione peroxidases that degrade hydroperoxides using glutathione (GSH) as a reducer, are selenoenzymes playing an important role as antioxidant defenses (Ursini, Maiorino and Gregolin, 1985; Flohé, 1989). However, selenium is also a toxic agent with a narrow range of suitable levels. The main objective of this study was to assess the physiological development of some antioxidant parameters in liver and testes of rats during the puberty until the adult hood and to know if a low selenium supplementation in the diet can have some effect on those parameters, especially on those related with glutathione metabolism. (Introduction)
