Utilization of selenium from different chemical entities for selenoprotein biosynthesis by mammalian cell lines

Four different cell lines (Hep G2, THP-1, EL 4 6.1, and ECV 304) were grown in a selenium-deficient standard medium (5% fetal calf serum in RPMI 1640 resulting in 5.5 nM selenium of unknown bioavailability) and supplemented with increasing concentration of selenium in the form of sodium selenite, selenomethionine and serum-bound selenium. The activities of two types of glutathione peroxidases (cGPx and PHGPx) were measured to estimate the availability of selenium for selenoprotein synthesis. Only sodium selenite between 1 and 100 nM was found to consistently induce GPx activity in all cell lines, whereas selenomethionine in equal concentrations was practically ineffective. Only THP-1 cells were able to utilize selenium from serum as efficiently as sodium selenite. PHGPx activity similarly responded to selenium supplementation, but was not increased in EL 4 6.1 cells. Our data demonstrate that conventional tissue culture media require selenium supplementation to guarantee adequate selenoprotein biosynthesis in cultured cells. The chemical nature of the selenium compound used for such supplement is as critical for in vitro cultivated cells as for dietary intake.