ON THE MECHANISM OF PREVENTION OF FATAL PARATHYROID TETANY BY THE ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE

Abstract

Luckhardt believes that the role of Mg ions, orally administered as MgCl2, is one of depression of the central nervous system. Mor-phin, a known depressant of the central nervous system, was tried and found adequate in controlling 4-5 attacks of tetany occurring over periods of 4-7 days. The blood Ca (as determined by the Tweedy modification of the Kramer-Tisdall method) did not always go below the accepted tetany level during a tetany period, nor did it always go up following an attack of tetany controlled by morphin. Incidentally morphin was found to be a valuable emergency agent which might be used either on parathyroidectomized dogs that are unable to retain the orally administered therapeutic dose of Ca long enough to control the tetany, or on dogs in which the passage of a stomach tube, when in tetany, might precipitate a fatal attack.