title: The Importance of Magnesium in the Human Body: A Systematic Literature Review.
abstract: Magnesium, the second and fourth most abundant cation in the intracellular compartment and whole body, respectively, is of great physiologic importance. Magnesium exists as bound and free ionized forms depending on temperature, pH, ionic strength, and competing ions. Free magnesium participates in many biochemical processes and is most commonly measured by ion-selective electrode. This analytical approach is problematic because complete selectivity is not possible due to competition with other ions, i.e., calcium, and pH interference. Unfortunately, many studies have focused on measurement of total magnesium rather than its free bioactive form making it difficult to correlate to disease states. This systematic literature review presents current analytical challenges in obtaining accurate and reproducible test results for magnesium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address: sidselmarie_glasdam@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Sidsel-Marie
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Glasdam
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Division of Nursing, Department of Health Sciences, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Stinne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glasdam
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Günther H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Peters
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D017736:Ion-Selective Electrodes; D008274:Magnesium / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011199:Potentiometry / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D008274:Magnesium
keywords: Analytical methods; Biologic function; Blood; Electrolytes; Interference; Magnesium