Time-course of the change in blood pressure level in magnesium-deficient Wistar rats

Abstract

To investigate the relationships between maternal, umbilical cord and piglet fatty acid status, multiparous sows (six per diet) were fed on diets containing supplements (30 g/kg) of either soyabean oil or tuna oil for the last 21 d of pregnancy. The proportions of most fatty acids differed between diets: in particular, the tuna-oil-containing diet supplied more 22:6n-3 and less 18:2n-6 fatty acids than the soyabean-oil-containing diet. Maternal plasma fatty acid concentrations (mg/l) were greater than those in umbilical plasma and 20:4n-6 and 22:6n-3 fatty acids were present in higher proportions (g/100 g fatty acids) in umbilical than maternal plasma. Feeding tuna oil increased the proportionate amounts (g/100 g fatty acids) of total n-3 fatty acids (particularly 22:6n-3) in umbilical cord, plasma and piglet tissues compared with feeding soyabean oil: in contrast, the proportion of 20:4n-6 was decreased by feeding tuna oil. Changes in piglet fatty acid proportions as a result of oil feeding were not influenced by piglet weight. While proportions of the long-chain n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in piglet liver, spleen and reproductive tract (ovaries plus uterus of the female, testes of the male) correlated well with those of umbilical plasma, those in brain and retina were poorly correlated. Therefore umbilical plasma cannot be used to predict the fatty acid status of piglet brain.

Development of ionized hypomagnesemia is associated with higher mortality rates

“…Although hypomagnesemia has been associated with hypertension (28,29), in our study, the relation between arterial blood pressure and ionized magnesium level was very poor. Magnesium depletion has been implicated in cardiac arrhythmias, especially when accompanied by hypokalemia, or in patients with poor left-ventricular function, and the antiarrhythmic properties of magnesium administration have been well established (30 -32).…”

A long-term moderate magnesium-deficient diet aggravates cardiovascular risks associated with aging and increases mortality in rats

“…Mg deficiency induced transitory hypotension at the onset of the experimental dietary period followed by sustained hypertension [14,34,35]. In our experimental conditions, the rise in blood pressure induced by moderate Mg deficiency did not appear to be due to an increase in ventricular activity because the cardiac weight index and heart rate were not modified by Mg deficiency, nor did it appear to be due to an alteration in vascular function because the norepinephrine-and endothelin-1-induced vasoconstrictions in mesenteric resistance arteries were not altered by Mg deficiency.…”

Short-term magnesium deficiency upregulates sphingomyelin synthase and p53 in cardiovascular tissues and cells: relevance to the de novo synthesis of ceramide

“…Dietary deficiency of Mg in rats and rabbits has been shown to cause vascular remodeling concomitant with hypertension and atherosclerosis (i.e., arteriolar wall hypertrophy and alterations in the matrixes) of unknown origin (4,5,13,36).…”