the differences in the level of selenium in the organs of red deer (cervus elaphus) from various regions of poland

the aim of the study was to assess regional differences in selenium content in the environment based on analysis of the se concentrations in liver and kidney of red deer from central, northern, south-eastern and south-western poland. the level of selenium in organs was determined using spectrofluorometric methods. the mean concentration of selenium in the liver and kidney of red deer was 0.084 µg/g w.w. and 0.621 µg/g w.w., respectively. the highest mean concentration of selenium was found in the liver of red deer from the south-eastern region (0.120 µg/g w.w.), and it was significantly higher than the mean level of selenium in the liver of red deer from the northern (0.068 µg/g w.w.), central (0.070 µg/g w.w.) and south-western (0.079 µg/g w.w.) regions. the highest mean concentration of selenium in the kidney was also found in red deer from the south-eastern region (0.784 µg/g w.w.), and it was significantly higher than the mean level of selenium in the kidney of red deer from the northern (0.542 µg/g w.w.), central (0.561 µg/g w.w.) and south-western (0.606 µg/g w.w.) regions. our results indicate that there are deficits of selenium in the environment in poland.