Dipartimento di Scienze di Sanità Pubblica, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Ann Ist Super Sanita. 2010;46(3):279-83. doi: 10.4415/ANN_10_03_09.
Excess exposure to the metalloid selenium (Se), a trace element with both toxicological and nutritional properties, has been implicated in the etiology of a human motor neuron disease of unknown origin and extremely severe prognosis, sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This relation has been suggested on the basis of two epidemiologic investigations which found an increased risk of ALS associated with residence in a seleniferous area or with consumption of drinking water with unusually high levels of inorganic hexavalent Se, in South Dakota and in northern Italy respectively. Biological plausibility to a Se-ALS relation is provided by veterinary medicine observations and toxicological studies, showing that Se, particularly the inorganic forms, has a selective toxicity to motor neurons in swine and in cattle. Neurotoxic effects of Se species have also been demonstrated in laboratory studies and, for the inorganic forms, even at very low concentrations. Selenium has also been shown to affect muscle function in experimental animal models. Overall, these findings from the epidemiologic and the toxicological literature indicate that environmental Se, particularly in its inorganic forms and at unexpectedly low levels of exposure, might be a risk factor for ALS, suggesting the opportunity to further investigate this issue.
过量接触类金属元素硒（Se）——一种具有毒理学和营养学特性的微量元素——与一种病因不明且预后极差的人类运动神经元疾病（即散发性肌萎缩侧索硬化症，简称 ALS）有关。这种关联是基于两项流行病学调查得出的，这两项调查发现，居住在硒含量高的地区或饮用无机六价硒含量异常高的饮用水，与 ALS 的风险增加有关，分别是在南达科他州和意大利北部。兽医医学观察和毒理学研究为硒与 ALS 之间的关系提供了生物学上的合理性，这些研究表明硒，特别是无机形式，对猪和牛的运动神经元具有选择性毒性。实验室研究也证明了硒物种的神经毒性作用，即使在非常低的浓度下也是如此。此外，硒还被证明会影响实验动物模型中的肌肉功能。总的来说，这些来自流行病学和毒理学文献的发现表明，环境硒，特别是其无机形式，在意外低的暴露水平下，可能是 ALS 的一个风险因素，这表明有机会进一步研究这个问题。
