Some reports have demonstrated that selenium can inhibit tumorigenesis
in some tissues of animal. However, little is known about the inhibit
ory effect on malignant tumor cells of brain. The purpose of our study
was to determine the biological effect of selenium on growth of rat g
lioma and human glioblastoma cell lines. Cell lines C6 and A172 were o
btained from Japanese Cancer Research Resources Bank, Tokyo, Japan (JC
RB). Cells were cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM)
supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum at 37 degrees C in a humidified
atmosphere of air and 5% CO2. Antiproliferative effects of selenium w
ere evaluated using growth rate assay quantifying cell number by MTT a
ssay. An antiproliferative effect of selenium was found in two cell li
nes, which was more effective on human A172 glioblastoma and less effe
ctive on rat C6 glioma.