title: Effect of selenium deficiency and vitamin E deficiency on glutathione metabolism in isolated rat hepatocytes.
abstract: Selenium deficiency and vitamin E deficiency both affect xenobiotic metabolism and toxicity. In addition, selenium deficiency causes changes in the activity of some glutathione-requiring enzymes. We have studied glutathione metabolism in isolated hepatocytes from selenium-deficient, vitamin E-deficient, and control rats. Cell viability, as measured by trypan blue exclusion, was comparable for all groups during the 5-h incubation. Freshly isolated hepatocytes had the same glutathione concentration regardless of diet group. During the incubation, however, the glutathione concentration in selenium-deficient hepatocytes rose to 1.4 times that in control hepatocytes. The selenium-deficient cells also released twice as much glutathione into the incubation medium as did the control cells. Total glutathione (intracellular plus extracellular) in the incubation flask increased from 47.7 +/- 8.9 to 152 +/- 16.5 nmol/10(6) selenium-deficient cells over 5 h compared with an increase from 46.7 +/- 7.1 to 92.0 +/- 17.4 nmol/10(6) control cells and from 47.7 +/- 11.7 to 79.5 +/- 24.9 nmol/10(6) vitamin E-deficient cells. This overall increase in glutathione concentration suggested that glutathione synthesis was accelerated by selenium deficiency. The activity of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase was twice as great in selenium-deficient liver supernatant (105,000 X g) as in vitamin E-deficient or control liver supernatant (105,000 X g). Hemoglobin-free perfused livers were used to determine the form of glutathione released and its route. Selenium-deficient livers released 4 times as much GSH into the caval perfusate as did control livers. Plasma glutathione concentration in selenium-deficient rats was found to be 2-fold that in control rats, suggesting that increased GSH synthesis and release is an in vivo phenomenon associated with selenium deficiency.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D005721:Glutamate-Cysteine Ligase / Q000378:metabolism; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism*; D005980:Glutathione Reductase / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012643:Selenium / Q000172:deficiency*; D014811:Vitamin E Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005980:Glutathione Reductase; D005721:Glutamate-Cysteine Ligase; D005978:Glutathione; D012643:Selenium; D003545:Cysteine