Blood and plasma selenium levels and GSH-Px activities in patients with arterial hypertension and chronic heart disease.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between arterial hypertension (HTN), chronic heart disease (CHD), and selenium (Se) status. Blood and plasma Se concentrations and Se-dependent GSH-Px activities were determined in 40 patients (HTN = 20; CHD = 20) and 17 healthy volunteers aged 41 to 66 years. Whole blood and plasma Se concentrations were significantly lower in the patients with HTN (19.1% and 26.3%, respectively) and CHD (33.1% and 29.4%, respectively) compared with the values obtained in the controls. The hypertensive patients had lower plasma Se-GSH-Px (26.7%), and those with CHD had both lower whole blood (19.5%) and plasma Se-GSH-Px activities (30.2%). A significant positive correlation between plasma Se-GSH-Px activity and ejection fraction (EF) was found in patients with CHD. There were significant correlations between plasma and whole blood Se concentration, plasma Se concentration and Se-GSH-Px activity, and whole blood Se and Se-GSH-Px activity. Our results showed that hypertensive patients and those with CHD had lower Se levels compared with controls. We conclude that low Se content might be a risk factor for development of HTN and CHD.