Chapter 9: Selenium and immunity
In: Selenium in pig nutrition and healthDepartment of Hygiene and Poultry Sciences, Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology Named After K.I. Skryabin, 109472 Moscow, Russia.
Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.
Department of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Szent Istvan University, 2103 Gödöllo, Hungary.
Saint-Petersburg State Academy of Veterinary Medicine, 196084 St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sumy National Agrarian University, 40000 Sumy, Ukraine.
Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies, 65039 Odessa, Ukraine.
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Selenium affects all components of the immune system, including the development and expression of nonspecific, humoral, and cell-mediated responses. In general, a deficiency in Se appears to result in immunosuppression, whereas optimal Se supplementation appears to result in augmentation and/or restoration of immunologic functions. Since free radicals can be damaging to intestinal structures, antioxidant functions of selenium are responsible for prevention damages to intestinal lymphoid structure as well as damages to intestinal enterocyte membranes.This could be especially important in relation to gut immunosuppression caused by toxins/mycotoxins, nutritional deficiencies and infectious agents. Se is proven to have an important role in resolution of inflammation in various tissues, including gut, via affecting redox balance and expression of various transcription factors including NF-κB and PPARγ. When considering immuno-facilitating properties of selenium, it is necessary to take into account several points, including interactions between various antioxidants and prooxidants, possible increased Se requirement for immunomodulation under stress conditions, Se source with organic selenium to be at an advantage because it is better assimilated from feed and better accumulated in tissues, etc. As a result of antioxidant (selenium) deficiency increased oxidative stress of a host can lead to increased virus mutation rate and change in a viral pathogen resulting in emerging viral pathogens with new pathogenic properties. This possibility was not fully exploited in animal production but seems important to study more extensively. There is a need for further research related to molecular mechanisms of protective effects of various antioxidants, including selenoproteins, on immunity under various commercially-relevant stress conditions.