Selenium critical constants

Fig. 2.7. Pressure-temperature phase diagram of selenium showing solid, liquid, and vapor phases together with regions of semiconducting (SC), metallic (M), and insulator (I) behavior. The line of semiconductor-metal transitions observed in the liquid at high pressure (Brazhkin et al., 1989) is extrapolated to contour of constant DC electrical conductivity (

In an adequately supplied adult male human subject, the total body selenium content is on the order of 30-60 mg, of which one-third is found in the skeleton and two-thirds in the soft tissues. A substantial fraction of kidney selenium is retained even when selenium at other sites is severely depleted during deficiency, and renal selenium is more constant between human populations than selenium in other tissues or body fluids. Regulation of selenoprotein synthesis at the transcription level appears to ensure a hierarchy of preservation of individual selenoproteins at critical sites. The cytosolic glutathione peroxidase (GPx I) and selenoprotein P can donate selenium to other sites whenever overall depletion occurs. Selenium crosses the placenta readily, and breast milk selenium concentration is responsive to changes in maternal selenium intake. In the United States, breast milk Se concentrations are generally in the range of 0.19-0.25 pmol/1, but colostrum has levels that are two or three times higher than those of mature breast milk. 

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