Selenium and blood pressure studies in young and adult normotensive, renal, and spontaneously hypertensive animals.

With reports of either no change or reduction of blood pressure, the relationship between selenium and blood pressure has not been clear. Normal Se values are not available for the Sprague Dawley (SD) rat or in the young and adult rat with various models of experimental hypertension. This study measured serum Se levels in the young and adult normotensive (NT), Grollman renal hypertensive (RH), and Okamoto-Aoki spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR). The young animals have statistically significant (P less than 0.001) lower Se values as measured by the fluorometric method than those found at adulthood. Selenium levels were found to be altered in the adult SHR animals when compared with the RH and NT animals. The serum Se value for the normotensive SD rat was found to be 65.0 +/- 3.5 micrograms/dL, and for the two experimental models, 63.7 +/- 4.6 micrograms/dL for the RH, whereas the SHR level was elevated to 75.04 +/- 4.8 micrograms/dL (P less than 0.001). Elevated serum Se values in the adult SHR animals suggests an altered metabolism in SHR animals.