The nature of the acid-volatile selenium in the liver of the male rat

Abstract

1. The properties of rat liver acid-volatile selenium have been compared with those of H2Se and (CH3)2Se. 2. In model experiments oxidation-sensitive H275Se was trapped quantitatively under anaerobic conditions in 0.1m-AgNO3, and (CH3)275Se was trapped quantitatively in 8m-HNO3. The acid-labile selenium of a liver homogenate, and of a microsomal fraction, was found to behave quite unlike (CH3)275Se and in a manner indistinguishable from H275Se. 3. It was concluded that the acid-volatile material is certainly not (CH3)2Se and that it is probably H2Se. 4. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to current knowledge about the metabolism and detoxication of selenium, and a scheme is proposed which incorporates this knowledge with recent observations on the interactions between trace amounts of selenium and tocopherol, and the production of acute selenium deficiency by Ag+ in vitamin E-deficient rats.