Haematological and serum changes in goats experimentally intoxicated with sodium selenite

Abstract

Nubian goats were given single or repeated daily oral doses of 160, 80, 40, 20, 5, 1, 0.5 and 0.25 mg/kg of sodium selenite and the clinical, biochemical and hematological changes were recorded. At higher doses, the selenite produced restlessness, frothing at the mouth, dyspnoea, diarrhoea, paresis or the hind limbs, recumbency and death. Increases in the values of Hb, PCV, and RBC indicated hemoconcentration. In goats given 5 mg/kg/day or sodium selenite, there was macrocytic hypochromic anemia and leucopenia before death. An increase in the activity of GOT and y-GT and in the concentration of urea and inorganic phosphate and a decrease in the concentration of total protein and calcium were detected in the serum. Sodium selenite, at daily doses of 1, 0.5 and 0.25 mg/kg was non-toxic to goats.