No abstract

Hatchery-reared coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum), were fed elevated levels of selenium (as Na^Se O3) to raise eviscerated body burdens to the level measured in wild counterparts. The goal was to find a dietary concentration that would achieve the desired effect without causing damage to growth and normal development. To measure some indices of health, the detoxifying enzymes chosen were hepatic glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD). Eviscerated body selenium (Se) concentration, GSH-Px and SOD levels were measured during and at the end of the 9 month freshwater feeding trial. Selenium retention and enzyme activity were also measured during 6 months' residence in sea water (SW). Selenium supplements were added to a commercial ration to give final concentrations of 1.

No abstract

SummaryStudies performed on iron-deficient and control rats demonstrated that oxidative energy production (phosphorylation) by mitochondria from iron-deficient red and intermediate skeletal muscles was greatly reduced with pyruvate-malate, succinate, and a-glycerophosphate as substrates. Although phosphorylation was also decreased in iron-deficient white skeletal muscle with succinate and pyruvate-malate as substrates, no change was found with a-glycerophosphate as substrate.

Pregnant rats were treated with various inhibitors of mitochondrial oxidative energy metabolism and with lowered oxygen tension, and the embryo fetuses examined for the occurrence of congenital malformations and for changes in enzymatic activities. Treatment with all agents tested resulted in the production of skeletal anomalies. Sodium phenobarbital was the most teratogenic of the drugs tested and produced a high incidence of malformations which included cleft palate, tail anomalies, spinal retroflexion, domed head, and facial hypoplasia. Diphenylhydantoin produced a low incidence of syndactyly and oligodactyly. In addition to its effects on fetal growth and development chloramphenicol appeared to interfere with implantation. Tissue preparations from embryos exposed to sodium phenobarbital and chloramphenicol showed markedly lowered levels of DPNH oxidase activity. Cytochrome oxidase activity was also markedly lowered in the preparations from chloramphenicol-exposed embryos. Enzyme activities in preparations from embryos exposed to malonate and diphenylhydantoin appeared unaffected, although the drugs are strong inhibitors of electron transport in vitro; the lack of apparent effect may be due to the fact that both drugs do not bind to the enzyme preparations and were diluted 100- to 200-fold during preparation and assay of the tissue homogenates.