title: Attenuated vasodilator responses to Mg2+ in young patients with borderline hypertension.
abstract: Limb vascular responses to magnesium (Mg2+) and potassium (K+) ions were studied in 19 young patients with borderline hypertension (BHT) and compared with those of 22 age-matched normotensive subjects (NT) by measuring the forearm blood flow response to intra-arterial infusion of magnesium sulfate and potassium chloride using venous occlusion plethysmography. Percent decrements of forearm vascular resistance with Mg2+ infusions were significantly less in BHT subjects than in NT (-37.2 +/- 4.2% versus -53.0 +/- 2.0%, p less than 0.05, during the infusion of 0.1 meq Mg2+/min, and -52.2 +/- 4.3% versus -65.6 +/- 1.5%, p less than 0.05, during the infusion of 0.2 meq Mg2+/min). Moreover, the relation of the magnitude of Mg2+ response to initial vascular resistance in six of 10 BHT subjects lies above the 95% confidence interval for predicted values calculated for response points in 11 NT subjects, suggesting attenuated vasodilator responses of Mg2+ in a significant proportion of BHT subjects. In contrast, the response points to K+ in eight of nine BHT subjects fall within the 95% confidence interval, suggesting normal vasodilator responses to K+ in the majority of BHT subjects. Furthermore, the effect of small increments in local serum calcium concentrations on Mg2(+)- and K(+)-induced vasodilation was studied in normal volunteers. Isosmolar CaCl2 solution infused into the same brachial artery at a rate of 0.09 meq/min severely blunted the vasodilating actions of Mg2+ (-30.1 +/- 6.5% versus -65.8 +/- 3.2%, p less than 0.01, during the infusion of 0.2 meq Mg2+/min) but did not affect those of K+ (-63.1 +/- 3.1% versus -55.9 +/- 3.8%, NS, during the infusion of 0.154 meq K+/min). It appears that Mg2(+)-induced vasodilation should be due to the antagonistic action of Mg2+ to calcium, but K(+)-induced vasodilation might not be directly related to calcium movement. Thus, these attenuated responses to Mg2+ but normal responses to K+ in BHT subjects may indicate an underlying defect in vascular Mg2+ metabolism, which ultimately may be related to the alterations in calcium handling by plasma membranes rather than to the abnormalities of membrane Na(+)-K+ pump activity.
authors.affiliation: Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tokyo School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ogata
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D005542:Forearm / Q000098:blood supply; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008274:Magnesium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011188:Potassium / Q000494:pharmacology; D012016:Reference Values; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D008274:Magnesium; D011188:Potassium; D002118:Calcium