Selenium concentrations in plasma of patients with arteriographically defined coronary atherosclerosis

A prospective epidemiological study (Lancet ii: 175-179, 1982) implicates low concentrations of selenium in plasma in coronary atherogenesis. We examined this relationship more directly by fluorometry of selenium in the plasma of 91 hospitalized patients who were being examined by coronary arteriography for clinical evaluation of chest pain. We observed a significant, inverse correlation between the plasma selenium and severity of coronary atherosclerosis. These results confirm those of the epidemiological studies, but the role, if any, of selenium in atherogenesis still is unclear. Its concentration in plasma is decreased by ethanol and cigarette use; possibly this is the mechanism of its relation to hypertension and atherosclerosis.