VITAMIN E AND SELENIUM IN THE PREVENTION OF NUTRITIONAL MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY IN LAMBS

Abstract

The study investigates nutritional muscular dystrophy in lambs and the impact of selenium and vitamin E supplementation in their diet on the occurrence and prevention of this disease. Vitamin E and selenium play crucial roles in the animal body in relation to growth and development, reproduction, production performance, health status, and immunity. The physiological importance of selenium and vitamin E for living organisms is based on their strong antioxidant activity. Nutritional muscular dystrophy, also known as white muscle disease (myopathy, NMD), frequently occurs in lambs and older categories of sheep as a result of selenium and/or vitamin E deficiency in the diet. This deficiency, together with a high intake of unsaturated fatty acids, increases the concentration of peroxides in the body. The consequence is degeneration of skeletal and cardiac muscles. Increased serum concentrations of the enzymes aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase, along with low selenium and vitamin E levels and reduced glutathione peroxidase activity, are the most reliable indicators of nutritional muscular dystrophy in lambs.