Blooms of cyanobacteria have been known to cause illness in humans and death in wild and domestic animals. One of the toxins produced by cyanobacteria is microcystin, which is a potent hepatotoxin. Microcystin is taken up by bile acid transporters in the intestine and transported into the liver. After exposure to acute doses of microcystin, severe haemorrhage has been observed along with apoptotic and necrotic hepatocytes. The cytoskeletal structure of the hepatocytes is disrupted and oxidative stress is induced. Selenium, a known anti-oxidant, has been shown to induce increased activity of glutathione peroxidase. Glutathione peroxidase removes peroxides from cells protecting them from oxidative stress. This study set out to determine if selenium could play a role in preventing the damage to mice livers due to microcystin toxin. The protective role of selenium was explored in three main studies: in the first study, the ability of selenium to increase the survival time of mice exposed to a lethal dose of toxin was determined. In the second study the mice were exposed to sublethal chronic doses of toxin over 30 days. The ability of selenium to minimise liver damage under these conditions was determined. The final study investigated the mechanism of the protective effect of selenium. The results of the first study suggested that selenium could extend survival time. In the second study the selenium supplemented mice showed a reduction in the extent of the increase in liver weight and a decrease in the amount of lipid peroxidation induced compared to the mice that received only toxin. The histology of the selenium supplemented mice also showed a decrease in the severity and amount of morphological changes in the liver. The third study indicated that the protection shown by selenium might be mediated by an increase in the glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity in selenium supplemented mice. This increase in GPX activity would increase the removal of the lipid hydroperoxides and prevent the damage they would cause in the cell. A further result indicated an increase in glutathione S-transferase in only the toxin control mice when compared to the selenium supplemented and control mice. ii In conclusion selenium offers protection against microcystin but further studies need to be done to provide statistically valid results to clarify the level of protection.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:11070 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Downs, Kerry |
| Publisher | University of Port Elizabeth, Faculty of Science |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MSc |
| Format | 139 pages, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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