Selenium Levels in Human Blood and Tissues in Health and in Disease

Abstract

The levels of selenium in human sera and pancreatic, hepatic, and synovial tissues were measured. An attempt was made to correlate the selenium level with certain disease states. Selenium was determined by neutron activation analysis, using the 17.4 second half-life isotope ^77mSe with a sensitivity of 2 ppb. Serum-bound selenium was determined in normal individuals and individuals with various malignancies, and medical and surgical disorders. Tissue selenium was assayed in diseased and normal pancreases, livers, and synovial membranes. A wide variation was observed both in the serum selenium content of patients with a malignancy and in postmortem pancreatic and synovial tissues showing histopathological changes. Significantly lower selenium values were observed in sera from cancer patients than from normal individuals. Higher values were generally observed in patients with primary neoplasms of the reticuloendothelial system. Higher tissue concentrations were obtained in synovia from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and in pancreatic tissues associated with histopathological changes.