Lowered selenium (Se) status has been observed in asthma patients. An increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) owing to inflammatory condition has also been found in these patients and thus antioxidant properties of Se via glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity are of great importance. Concentrations of Se in plasma and erythrocytes as well as erythrocyte GPx activity in 22 intrinsic asthma patients (five patients; all women were aspirin-sensitive) were compared with those of 33 control subjects. Se concentrations in both plasma and erythrocytes and GPx activity were decreased in intrinsic asthma patients. There were no significant differences in investigated parameters of Se status between aspirin-tolerant and aspirin-intolerant patients within intrinsic asthma group. Significantly high positive correlation between plasma and erythrocyte Se concentrations was found when regarding all subjects as a whole. Se supplementation might be beneficial to patients with intrinsic asthma, which may be at risk of Se deficiency.
Results of the study suggest a possible contribution of suboptimal concentrations of CoQ10 on antioxidative dysbalance in As and provide a rationale for its supplementation.
Data show that patients with corticosteroid-dependent bronchial asthma have low plasma CoQ(10) concentrations that may contribute to their antioxidant imbalance and oxidative stress. A reduction in the dosage of corticosteroids required by the patients following antioxidant supplementation was observed, indicating lower incidence of potential adverse effects of the drugs, decreased oxidative stress. This study also demonstrates the significant uptake of CoQ(10) by lung tissue in a rat model using hydrosoluble CoQ(10) (Q-Gel).
Endothelial cells play a major role in immunologic reactions, in which cellular adhesion molecules P-selectin, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and ELAM-1 are important mediators in the recruitment of leukocytes in pulmonary inflammation. Selenium (Se) is known to modulate immunological mechanisms of asthma. The aim of our investigation was to examine whether Se supplementation in cortico-dependent asthmatic patients may modulate adhesion molecule expression in cultured endothelium. Our findings indicated that P-selectin, VCAM-1, and ELAM-1 expression on human umbilical vein endothelial cells stimulated with peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from asthmatics before supplementation with Se was significantly higher than from healthy donors (p < 0.05). The production of ICAM-1 showed only slight augmentation. The levels of VCAM-1 and ELAM-1 expression were significantly decreased after 3 mo of Se supplementation (p < 0.05). After 6 mo of intervention period the intensity of P-selectin and ICAM-1 expression was also significantly reduced (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). The inhibitory effect of Se on the adhesion molecule expression was studied in cultured endothelial cells after interferon-gamma stimulation. Our data suggest that Se affects the expression of P-selectin, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and ELAM-1 in a dose-dependent manner and the half-maximal inhibitory concentrations were 3.4, 0.5, 4, and 3.8 microg/mL, respectively. The maximal inhibitions (greater than 80%) were observed in vitro with 10 microg/mL Se (p < 0.01). Regulation of adhesion molecule expression may be an important mechanism through which the inflammation may be controlled.
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