Does magnesium deficiency increase basal tension and potentiate contractile responses in isolated dog coronary arteries?
Magnesium deficiency increases basal tension and potentiates contractile responses in isolated dog coronary arteries, suggesting a mechanism for coronary spasm in sudden death ischemic heart disease.
Isolated coronary arteries from dogs were incubated in Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate isolation and exposed to normal, high, and low concentrations of magnesium in the medium. Sudden withdrawal of magnesium from the medium increased whereas high concentrations of magnesium decreased the basal tension of the arteries. The absence of magnesium in the medium significantly potentiated the contractile responses of both small and large coronary arteries to norepinephrine, acetylcholine, serotonin, angiotensin, and potassium. These data support the hypothesis that magnesium deficiency, associated with sudden death ischemic heart disease, produces coronary arterial spasm.
Turlapaty et al. (Fri,) studied this question.