The effects of in vivo selenium supplementation on the amplitude of the spontaneous contractions and the responses to acetylcholine in isolated rabbit ileum.

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of selenium supplementation at a therapeutic level on the isolated ileum contractions and the acetylcholine responses in New Zealand rabbits. While no difference with respect to the controls was found in the spontaneous ileum contraction frequencies a significant increase in the contraction amplitude was noted after 15 days of supplementation. Increasing concentrations of acetylcholine in the perfusion solution resulted in a significant increase of the contraction amplitudes in the supplemented animals as compared to controls. The tissue selenium levels and the gluthathione peroxidase activities were also found significantly higher than the controls. No difference was observed between the contraction numbers in the two groups. These findings indicate that selenium supplementation does not influence the smooth muscle resting potential.