Objective   To explore the effects of cisplatin and sodium selenite on cell proliferation kinetics of human T lymphocytes and the possible prevention of sodium selenite against the cell proliferation inhibition by cisplatin.

  Methods   Human peripheral lymphocyte cultures were treated with three concentrations(0.05, 0.20 and 0.50 mg/L)of cisplatin alone or in combination with sodium selenite during the last 48 h of incubation.Sodium selenite was with a single dose of 0.05 mg/L at the beginning of the cell culture or at the same time as cisplatin was administered for different treatments.Cell cycle profiles and cell cycle time of cell populations treated with different ways were detected by differential staining of newly synthesized DNA and chromatids that had incorporated 5-bromodeoxyuridine during the cell culture.

  Results   Cisplatin at the three doses notably arrested cell cycle processes and remarkably lengthen cell cycle time.Sodium selenite at 0.05 mg/L presented the effects of promoting cell cycle progresses and shortening cell cycle time.When cells were cotreated with cisplatin and sodium selenite, and when cisplatin concentration was 0.05 mg/L, sodium selenite in pretreatment and simultaneous treatment markedly resisted the actions that cisplatin arrested cell cycle processes and lengthened cell cycle time; when cisplatin concentration was 0.20 mg/L, sodium selenite in pretreatment could antagonize the actions of cisplatin on cell proliferation kinetics but sodium selenite in simultaneous treatment could not; when the concentration was 0.50 mg/L, sodium selenite did not present the above effects.

  Conclusion   Sodium selenite in concentration of 0.05 mg/L can facilitate cell cycle processes, shorten cell cycle time of human T lymphocytes in culture, and can antagonize the influence of lower dose cisplatin on cell proliferation kinetics.Pretreatment with sodium selenite can obtain more efficient effects.