Selenium effect on human bone health and its application in bone materials

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In recent years, selenium modified bone repair materials have shown great potential in the treatment of bone diseases and regenerative repair. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the construction strategies of different types of selenium modified bone repair materials, as well as the effects, mechanisms, and repair promoting effects of regulating the immune microenvironment of bone regeneration. METHODS: CNKI, WanFang, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases were searched for literature published from database inception to 2025, using the Chinese search terms “selenium, bone defect, osteoporosis, Kashin Beck disease, osteosarcoma” and English search terms “selenium, bone defect, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, Kashin Beck disease, osteosarcoma.” By reading literature for initial screening, duplicate and irrelevant articles were excluded, and ultimately 64 articles were included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Selenium has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and bone promoting properties, which can effectively improve the immune microenvironment for bone regeneration. Selenium has high toxicity, but introducing selenium into bone materials can effectively diminish the toxicity of selenium. Selenium is often incorporated into bone repair materials using methods like mesoporous particles, nanoparticles, hydrogen bonds, and covalent bonds (diselenides). In composite materials, selenium uses its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities to regulate the immune microenvironment and promote osteogenic gene expression, creating an ideal microenvironment for bone defect repair and regeneration. By anti-apoptosis, promoting chondrocyte self-renewal, and regulating the cellular microenvironment, it provides a potential direction for the treatment of Kashin-Beck disease. It can improve the surrounding environment of chondrocytes through anti-apoptosis, antioxidant, anti-aging, and enhancing cartilage anabolism, offering a new perspective for the treatment of osteoarthritis. However, most current research remains at a relatively basic level, and there are still many challenges before clinical application.

1. Introduction

Bones play a vital role in the human body, supporting the body, protecting internal organs, participating in movement, storing minerals, and hematopoiesis. Selenium is a cofactor for many antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase, thioredoxin reductase, and superoxide dismutase, which catalyze the decomposition of lipid hydroperoxides and hydrogen peroxide in human cells under reducing conditions, thereby protecting cells and cell membranes from oxidative damage. Selenium deficiency is closely related to osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, Kashin-Beck disease, and osteosarcoma. Appropriate selenium supplementation can enhance antioxidant activity and promote osteogenesis, especially for people living in selenium-deficient areas. However, selenium is easily oxidized in air, and its oxidation products have low solubility, and some forms (e.g., inorganic selenium) are highly toxic, leading to poor bioavailability. Incorporating selenium into bone materials can improve its bioavailability, thus selenium-modified bone materials show great potential in improving the bone regeneration immune microenvironment.

Most current reviews focus on the biological properties of selenium and do not pay much attention to its application in bone disease treatment and bone repair, especially lacking systematic summaries of natural selenium types, incorporation methods, and the impact of selenium incorporation on material properties. This review summarizes the construction strategies of different types of selenium-modified bone repair materials, their effects on the immune microenvironment at bone defect sites, mechanisms of action, and mechanisms promoting bone regeneration, providing a reference for future research on selenium-modified bone repair materials.