Glutathione peroxidase activity, and content of total and soluble selenium in five bovine and porcine organs used in meat production

Glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) activity, and total and soluble selenium content were compared in five bovine and porcine organs. The highest GSHPx activity in porcine tissues was found in the liver (35.0 U/g), spleen (29.3 U/g) and kidney (27.3 U/g) with much lower values in the heart (1.8 U/g) and diaphragm (0.8 U/g). A different pattern with lower inter-organ variation in GSHPx activity was observed in cattle: kidney (8.5 U/g), spleen (8.0 U/g), heart (5.8 U/g), liver (4.0 U/g) and diaphragm (2.1 U/g). The total selenium content was similar in both species with the highest content in the kidney (1764 and 1665 ng/g; pig/bovine), followed by liver (533 and 307 ng/g), spleen (370 and 284 ng/g), heart (201 and 205 ng/g) and diaphragm (144 and 116 ng/g). The percentage of soluble selenium varied more among the pig organs (46–94%) than among bovine organs (61–75%). The results show a marked variation in the activity of the selenium-containing GSHPx among organs and species in spite of a similar rank order of selenium content in the two species. Since GSHPx has a role in food stability and the intake of selenium is marginal in many European countries, the results add to the background information concerning the use of selenium rich organs as human foods.