The Influence of Selenium on the Development of Nutritional Encephalomalacia

Abstract

It has been generally accepted that low levels of dietary selenium will prevent the development of exudative diathesis and muscular dystrophy but not encephalomalacia in vitamin E-deficient chicks. Recently, however, Century and Horwitt (1964) demonstrated that under certain conditions selenium may protect against the development of the cerebellar disorder as well. In this laboratory, results obtained from preliminary investigations of a possible selenium-tocopherol synergism in encephalomalacia, reported herein, concur with the observation that selenium may protect against this disorder. The data indicate that the element effectively delays onset of the condition as the vitamin E requirement is approached. EXPERIMENTALFemale, one-day old White Plymouth Rock chicks, obtained from a commercial hatchery, were employed in the initial trials. For later studies, a vitamin E-depleted breeding flock was developed to enable the employment of chicks with low tissue stores of vitamin E. Two basal diets were employed to produce encephalomalacia—(1) basal…