RESUMO
Metallothionein induced by selenium was assayed with competitive ELISA. It was found that in control mice, the liver contained (2.47+/-0.90) microgram MT/g wet weight tissue, while the mice administered with ZnSO(4) contained (8.15+/-2.20) microgram MT/g wet weight liver tissue and the mice given with selenium malt contained (12.80+/-1.44) microgram MT/g wet weight liver. A significant difference was found between the control and the latter two groups (P<0.05, P<0.05). The MT content of selenium group was significantly higher than the zinc group. It is suggested that the selenium was more potent in induction of MT and was a stronger inducer than ZnSO(4) in its effective dose range, therefore selenium may be developed into a novel and safe MT inducer.