Selenium and vitamin E deficiencies do not enhance lung inflammation from cigarette smoke in the hamster

The early lung inflammatory response to cigarette smoke may be oxidant-mediated. We fed Syrian hamsters a diet deficient in selenium and vitamin E to determine whether impairment of the lung's antioxidant defenses might worsen inflammation induced by cigarette smoke. After 8 wk, cigarette-smoke-exposed animals had characteristic inflammatory lesions in the distal airways. Increased numbers of phagocytes, predominantly macrophages, were recovered by lavage and these cells exhibited enhanced oxidative metabolism. Animals fed the deficient diet had profound depletions of selenium and vitamin E, but no alterations in the histologic appearance of smoke-induced inflammatory lesions, in the numbers of phagocytes recruited, or in the oxidative metabolism of these phagocytes. These results suggest that selenium and vitamin E are unimportant in protecting against cigarette-smoke-induced lung injury.