Effect of Sulfur Salts on Selenium Poisoning in the Rat

Abstract

The addition of sodium sulfate to diets containing 10 ppm of selenium reduced the toxicity for rats when this element was added as selenate, but did not when it was added as selenite or as wheat containing selenium. A similar but less pronounced effect was obtained with sodium thiosulfate and sodium sulfite added to the seleniferous diets. The selenium of the wheat appeared the most toxic, the selenate selenium the least. Differences, however, were small. The highest level of selenium in the liver was found in rats on the diet containing the seleniferous wheat, and the lowest level was found in rats receiving selenate. In a metabolism study, sodium sulfate in the diet increased the urinary excretion of selenium from rats fed selenate. It had no significant effect on excretion of the element in the feces.