M. DEMAJO¹, OLGA JOZANOV-STANKOV¹ and IVANA ĐUJIĆ²

¹Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, 11001 Belgrade

²Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, Center of Chemistry,

11000 Belgrade,

Serbia and Montenegro

Abstract – The mammalian pineal gland regulates a number of important physiological processes. In this paper we report changes in the content of iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and selenium (Se) in the male rat pineal glands at 4, 5, 8, and 12 months of age. The effect of Se supplementation in drinking water on the content of pineal gland microelements was also studied. Selenium (Se)-dependent changes in pineal gland reported in this study suggest novel physicochemical and biochemical properties of Se, an important element essential in the antioxidative processes, yet known to influence a number of endocrine processes.