Magnesium in disease

Abstract

Although the following text will focus on magnesium in disease, its role in healthy subjects during physical exercise when used as a supplement to enhance performance is also noteworthy. Low serum magnesium levels are associated with metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension; consequently, some individuals benefit from magnesium supplementation: increasing magnesium consumption appears to prevent high blood pressure, and higher serum magnesium levels are associated with a lower risk of developing a metabolic syndrome. There are, however, conflicting study results regarding magnesium administration with myocardial infarction with and without reperfusion therapy. There was a long controversy as to whether or not magnesium should be given as a first-line medication. As the most recent trials have not shown any difference in outcome, intravenous magnesium cannot be recommended in patients with myocardial infarction today. However, magnesium has its indication in patients with torsade de pointes and has been given successfully to patients with digoxin-induced arrhythmia or life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Magnesium sulphate as an intravenous infusion also has an important established therapeutic role in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia as it decreases the risk of eclamptic seizures by half compared with placebo.

Lower Serum Magnesium Is Associated with Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Mortality in Haemodialysis Patients

“…It has been suggested that magnesium regulates cellular glucose metabolism directly because it serves as an important cofactor for various enzymes and acts as a second messenger for insulin [36] . It was also observed that insulin enhances intracellular magnesium uptake and this in turn mediates diverse effects ascribed to insulin [37] . Furthermore, hypomagnesaemia may induce altered cellular glucose transport, reduced pancreatic insulin secretion, defective post-receptor insulin signalling and/or altered insulininsulin receptor interactions and thus aggravate insulin resistance [38] .…”

“…Hypertension and its complications may also be the final consequences of increased calcium influx and contraction of VSMC [1,51] . Moreover, it was observed that magnesium acts on most types of calcium channels in VSMC exerting substantial arterial blood pressure-lowering properties, resulting in a reduction of peripheral and cerebral vascular resistance [37,52] . In vivo and in vitro studies in animals (pregnant rats) have demonstrated magnesium-induced relaxation of smooth muscle.…”

“…Hypomagnesaemia has been associated in CKD [9,17] and non-CKD [37] patients with overall mortality. Accordingly, we found that lower magnesium levels are an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in dialysis patients.…”

A comparative study of serum uric acid, glucose, calcium and magnesium in pre-eclampsia and normal pregnancy

“…The consequences of low magnesium may lead to a reduction in cerebral blood flow, cerebral vasospasm and increase in neuronal burst. 14,20 Macdonald et al have shown experimentally that magnesium has a vasoprotective effect. 21 This explains the use of magnesium sulphate as a neuroprotectant and antivasospastic agent.…”

A Rationally Designed, Spiropyran-Based Chemosensor for Magnesium

“…Conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes [10][11][12], Alzheimer's [13,14] and cardiovascular disease [15,16] have been linked with magnesium deficiency, however the mechanisms of Mg 2+ regulation in such disease states are poorly understood [17,18]. Fluorescent chemosensors, in combination with specialised imaging technologies, provide a useful tool to study the role of metal ions in cellular processes as they enable detection in and around cells with spatial and temporal resolution [19].…”