A Different Point of View of Glutathione Peroxidase: its Relationship to the Metabolic Changes Associated with Nutritional Management in Assaf ovine breed

Abstract. We considered the role played by selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in relation to the metabolic changes due to nutritional management in a flock of the Assaf breed in Spain, housed in an intensive management system. Our objective was to examine the relationship between the nutritional management of this flock during different productive stages and GSH-Px. The modifications of ASAT and CK activities, closely connected to the pathological changes in GSH-Px values, were also recorded. The animals were divided into two groups: control and experimental ewes.

Our results showed that neither physiological condition nor litter size had any influence on the GSH-Px values; the main modifications were due to the diet of these animals, especially if the diet was rieh in essential fatty acids. The evolution of ASAT and CK activities, and their relationship to GSH-Px and nutrition, is also described.