A multielement trace mineral injection improves liver copper and selenium concentrations and manganese superoxide dismutase activity in beef steers

Trace minerals (TM) are vital to health and growth of livestock, but low dietary concentrations and dietary antagonists may reduce mineral status and feeder cattle TM status is usually unknown at arrival. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of TM status on response to mineral injection in beef cattle. Forty steers were equally assigned to diets for an 84-d depletion period: control (CON; supplemental Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn) or deficient (DEF; no supplemental Cu, Mn, Se, or Zn plus Fe and Mo as TM antagonists). Lesser liver Cu and Se concentrations (79.0 +/- 11.60 and 1.66 +/- 0.080 mg/kg DM, respectively) in DEF steers compared with CON steers (228.8 +/- 11.60 and 2.41 +/- 0.080 mg/kg DM, respectively) on d 71 of depletion indicated mild deficiencies of these TM (P < 0.001). On d 1 of the 85-d repletion period, 10 steers within each dietary treatment were injected with sterilized saline (SAL) or Multimin90 (MM), containing 15, 10, 5, and 60 mg/mL of Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn, respectively, at a dose of 1 mL/68 kg BW. All steers were fed the same repletion diet supplemented with Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn to meet or exceed NRC recommendations. Blood was collected on d 0 and 1, and blood and liver biopsies were collected on d 8, 15, 29, 57, and 85 postinjection. Red blood cell lysate manganese-superoxide dismutase activity was greater in MM (P = 0.02), suggesting incorporation of injectable TM into a biological process. The increase in liver Se in response to MM was greater in CON vs. DEF (P = 0.02), suggesting TM from injection were used rather than stored in DEF steers. Liver Se and Cu (P < 0.05) were elevated through at least d 30 by MM. Dietary TM deficiency decreased neutrophil bacteria killing ability and increased myeloperoxidase (MPO) degranulation (P < 0.04) as measured on d 0, 1, 13, and 14 during the repletion period while injection had no impact. Within CON animals, total MPO was greater in animals that received TM injection, but injection did not affect MPO within DEF steers (P = 0.007). Overall, TM from an injectable mineral were used differently between TM adequate and mildly deficient steers.