Magnesium and rickets in rats
Aymard, P.; Gounelle, J.C.
Comptes Rendus des Seances de la Societe de Biologie et de ses Filiales 165(12): 2275-2279
1971
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-9026 PMID: 4263352 Document Number: 39791
Male Wistar rats, average weight 42 g, were given a normal diet with Ca:P ratio 1.6:1, a low-Ca diet with 0.2:1, or a high-Ca diet with 5:1. All diets had the same Mg content, 90 mg/100 g. One group on each diet was deprived of vitamin D, while another received 80 IU each week. All animals were kept in the dark.After 12 weeks, plasma Mg in mg/litre for the 6 groups was: low-Ca diet with vitamin D 27.5, without vitamin D 26.3; normal diet with vitamin D 22.5, without 25.1; high-Ca diet with vitamin D 19.7, without 16.6. Bone Mg fell on a high-Ca diet with or without vitamin D, but on the low-Ca diet it rose only in the group without vitamin D. The low-Ca diet produced a rise in urinary Mg excretion both with and without vitamin D, but the high-Ca diet produced no change in urinary Mg elimination.