Antioxidant Status in Elite Three-Day Event Horses during Competition

The objective of this study was to determine if competition intensity would have an effect on antioxidant status in horses before and during a three-day event. Body weight, body condition score, and blood was sampled from CCI2* (=19) and CCI3* (=23) horses before the start of dressage, 20 to 30 min following cross-country, and 18–24 h after cross-county. Data were analyzed using a PROC MIXED in SAS. There were no differences between CCI2* and CCI3* horses during competition for plasma cortisol, lactate, -tocopherol, retinol, or erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase. After cross-country, CCI3* horses had higher serum creatine kinase (=0.003) and aspartate aminotransferase (<0.0001) than the CCI2* horses. Plasma -carotene was higher in the CCI2* horses compared to the CCI3* horses (=0.0001). Total erythrocyte glutathione was also higher in the CCI2* horses versus CCI3* horses (<0.0001). These results are the first report of antioxidant status of horses competing in this level of a three-day event. The changes in antioxidant and muscle enzymes observed between divisions are likely due to the increased anaerobic and musculoskeletal demand on the upper level horses and the fitness required to compete at that level

Plasma Selenium Biomarkers in Low Income Black and White Americans from the Southeastern United States

Biomarkers of selenium are necessary for assessing selenium status in humans, since soil variation hinders estimation of selenium intake from foods. In this study, we measured the concentration of plasma selenium, selenoprotein P (SEPP1), and glutathione peroxidase (GPX3) activity and their interindividual differences in 383 low-income blacks and whites selected from a stratified random sample of adults aged 40–79 years, who were participating in a long-term cohort study in the southeastern United States (US). We assessed the utility of these biomarkers to determine differences in selenium status and their association with demographic, socio-economic, dietary, and other indicators. Dietary selenium intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire designed for the cohort, matched with region-specific food selenium content, and compared with the US Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) set at 55 µg/day. We found that SEPP1, a sensitive biomarker of selenium nutritional status, was significantly lower among blacks than whites (mean 4.4±1.1 vs. 4.7±1.0 mg/L, p = 0.006), with blacks less than half as likely to have highest vs. lowest quartile SEPP1 concentration (Odds Ratio (OR) 0.4, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.2–0.8). The trend in a similar direction was observed for plasma selenium among blacks and whites, (mean 115±15.1 vs. 118±17.7 µg/L, p = 0.08), while GPX3 activity did not differ between blacks and whites (136±33.3 vs. 132±33.5 U/L, p = 0.320). Levels of the three biomarkers were not correlated with estimated dietary selenium intake, except for SEPP1 among 10% of participants with the lowest selenium intake (≤57 µg/day). The findings suggest that SEPP1 may be an effective biomarker of selenium status and disease risk in adults and that low selenium status may disproportionately affect black and white cohort participants