Genotoxicity of two pharmacologically important selenium compounds (selenocystine and selenopuridine) in cultured human blood lymphocytes

Abstract

Studies were conducted in vitro with human peripheral blood lymphocytes (72 h whole blood cultures) to determine the genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of organic selenium compounds. Selenopuridine and selenocystine at 1.05 × 10–5 and 1.05 × 10–4 M added for 48 h, significantly increased the percentage of aberrant cells. In addition, a trend towards concentration‐dependent increases in SCE was observed. These increases were statistically significant at high doses of selenium. Cytokinetic analysis using cell proliferation and mitotic indices indicated that selenium treatment resulted in mitotic delay, while has no significant effects on cell proliferation, under the conditions of our experiments. These findings are discussed in terms of inhibitory effects of high doses of organic forms of selenium on the growth of several biological systems.