Among the substances that attracted the attention of oncologists in recent years are selenium-containing compounds, both inorganic and organic. Several epidemiological studies have shown an inverse correlation between selenium intake and cancer incidence. In the experiments reported here, we compared the effects of 2 inorganic selenium-containing salts that differed in the level of selenium oxi...

An overview highlighting the anti-cancer potential of (bio-essential) seleniumand tellurium-containing species, with an emphasis on biological targets and mechanisms of action, is presented. Studies thus far have focused on selenium(II) compounds (along with – to a lesser extent – inorganic selenium and selenium nanoparticles) which often successfully exploit the inherent anti-oxidizing ability...

The aim of this review is to present and evaluate the present knowledge of which selenium species are available to the general population in the form of food and common supplements and how these species are metabolized in mammals. The overview of the selenium sources takes a horizontal approach, which encompasses identification of new metabolites in yeast and food of plant and animal origin, wh...

In studies of the oxidation of sulfhydryl compounds (I), selenite has been found to be an active catalyst. Considering the biological importance of sulfhydryl oxidations and the implication of sulfhydryl compounds in selenium poisoning (2-5), more information on selenite-catalyzed oxidations is desirable, This paper reports studies of the catalytic oxidation of GSH by selenite and its reaction ...

It is well known that the animal organism has the ability of converting both inorganic selenium and tellurium into volatile substances which are exhaled in the respiratory gases. The nature of the volatile tellurium compound has been shown to be a methylated telluride, while the contention of Hofmeister that the exhaled selenium compound is likewise a methyl derivative (1) lacks to date adequat...

For a long period, Selenium was considered mainly a toxic element and has been the object of disputes for its controversial balance between beneficial and toxic effects. Nowadays, many evidences demonstrated its role as essential microelement in mammalian diet, having an essential role in redox homeostasis of all the living systems. Around 25 proteins were discovered to contain a selenocysteine...

Selenium-containing heterocyclic compounds have been well recognized, not only because of their remarkable reactivities and chemical properties, but also because of their diverse pharmaceutical applications. In this context, isoselenocyanates have been emerged as a powerful tool for the synthesis of selenium-containing heterocycles, since they are easy to prepare and store and are safe to handl...