Selenium Depletion Reduces Vaccination Response in Horses

The effect of selenium supplementation on vaccination response and immune function in adult horses1

“…In our study, the laek of effeet of Se status on the primary antibody response was also in contrast to previous work from our laboratory that indicated decreased primary antibody response in horses of low Se status compared with horses of adequate Se status (Brummer et al, 2011). This may relate to the longer period of time that the LS horses had received a low-Se diet at the time of this vaccine challenge (approximately 14 mo when aeeounting for initial depletion phase), compared with the previously reported study where the vaccine challenge was administered after 7 mo on the low-Se diet (Brummer et al, 2011).…”

“…In our study, the laek of effeet of Se status on the primary antibody response was also in contrast to previous work from our laboratory that indicated decreased primary antibody response in horses of low Se status compared with horses of adequate Se status (Brummer et al, 2011). This may relate to the longer period of time that the LS horses had received a low-Se diet at the time of this vaccine challenge (approximately 14 mo when aeeounting for initial depletion phase), compared with the previously reported study where the vaccine challenge was administered after 7 mo on the low-Se diet (Brummer et al, 2011). This may indicate an adaptation to the lower dietary Se intake, possibly through eompensation by other eomponents of the antioxidant system, such as vitamin E. Similar to the eurrent study, Baalsrud and Ovemes (1986) reported comparable antibody production in response to vaccination between horses on a Se-supplemented (0.5 mg Se/kg DM) or a low-Se and low-vitamin E control diet (0.03 mg Se/kg DM, 18 mg a-tocopheryl acetate/kg DM).…”

“…Similarly, other studies have also reported associations between Se supplementation and increased proliferation in response to mitogen stimulation (Lessard et al, 1991;Peretz et al, 1991;Roy et al, 1994). In contrast to these reports but similar to the current study, previous research from our laboratory also indicated no effect of Se status on equine lymphocyte proliferation (Brummer et al, 2009(Brummer et al, ,2011. Recently, lymphocyte proliferation was reported to be similar between foals of 1 mo of age, regardless of the source of Se (sodium selenite or Se-yeast) fed to their dams (Montgomery et al, 2012).…”

“…However, studies investigating the effect of Se supplementation on the equine immune system are Umited (Knight and Tyznik, 1990;Janicki, 2001;Thorson et al, 2010;Montgomery et al, 2012). Preliminary work conducted in our laboratory indicated that low Se status did affect some measures of cell-mediated immune function in the adult horse (Brummer et al, 2009(Brummer et al, , 2011.…”

The trace element and humoral immune response of lambs administered a zinc, cobalt and selenium soluble glass bolus

“…In horses, Brummer et al (2011) observed a similar response to KLH antigen challenge, the selenium supplemented group raised antibodies quicker and for a more prolonged period in comparison to the unsupplemented horses. However, Jelinek et al (1988) found the immune response in an unsupplemented low selenium merino sheep challenged with rabbit red blood cells, killed B. abortus cells, and C. pseudotuberculosis toxoid to be almost as strong as for the selenium supplemented sheep but although the selenium status was low for one of the groups in this experiment the vitamin E status (indicated by alpha-tocopherol concentrations) was elevated for both the low and high selenium groups.…”