MAGNESIUM PARTITION STUDIES IN GRAVES' DISEASE AND IN CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL HYPOTHYROIDISM

Abstract

In 6 of 50 patients the bound Mg fell within the normal range of 20% of the total serum Mg or less. In 9 additional patients the % of bound Mg varied between 20 and 25%. In 35, there was a definite increase in the bound Mg between 25 and 62% of the total serum Mg. There was no definite correlation between the % of bound serum Mg and the basal metabolic rate, but a relationship between the duration of the illness and the Mg partition. Thus, in patients with symptoms of Graves'' disease during more than 2 yrs., the bound fraction frequently tended to approximate normal levels. After adequate treatment with I the % of bound serum Mg diminished; it was further lowered after sub-total thyroidectomy. In patients with myxedema, as well as in totally thyroidectomized dogs, the bound serum Mg fraction was extremely low, frequently 0%, the direct antithesis of the condition in Graves'' disease. After adm. of thyroid extract or thyroxin to the thyroidectomized dogs, the % of bound serum Mg returned to approx. normal levels. The increase or decrease of the % of bound Mg occurred at the expense of the ionizable fraction, since the total serum Mg remained unaltered.