Food for thought: nano-selenium in poultry nutrition and health

• Published in: Animal health research reviews Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 103 - 107
• Main Authors: Surai, Peter F., Kochish, Ivan I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2020
• Subjects: absorption; animal health; Animal nutrition; Antioxidants; Biological effects; Bisphenol A; Dietary supplements; Drug dosages; Feed supplements; Feeds; metabolism; Nanoparticles; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Opinion; Oxidative stress; Physicochemical properties; Poultry; Poultry nutrition; Poultry production; Protein biosynthesis; Protein expression; Protein synthesis; Proteins; Selenium; Selenoproteins; Antioxidants; microbiota; selenoproteins; nano-Se
• ISSN: 1466-2523; 1475-2654; 1475-2654
• DOI: 10.1017/S1466252320000183

In recent years, nanoparticles have become a fashionable subject of research due to their sizes, shapes, and unique intrinsic physicochemical properties. In particular for the last 5 years, nano-Se has received tremendous attention in terms of its production, characteristic, and possible application for poultry/animal science and medical sciences. Indeed, Nano-Se is shown to be a potential source of Se for poultry/animal nutrition. However, there is an urgent need to address the questions related to nano-Se absorption, assimilation, and metabolism. It is not clear at present if major biological effects of nano-Se are due to Se-protein synthesis, direct antioxidant/prooxidant effects, or both. It is necessary to understand how metallic nano-Se can be converted into H2Se and further to SeCys to be incorporated into selenoproteins. The aforementioned issues must be resolved before nano-Se finds its way to animal/poultry production as a feed supplement and clearly this subject warrants further investigation.