Search

Magnesium plasma concentrations were measured in healthy probands before and after administration of trimagnesium dicitrate by the oral and intravenous routes. There was a notable circadian fluctuation of the plasma concentration with a peak in the evening hours. After oral administration of 12 and 24 mmol magnesium, a long-lasting, statistically significant increase in plasma magnesium concentration measured as the increase in area under the curve (AUC) between 0 and 12 h, of 3.1% and 4.6%, respectively, was found. After intravenous administration of 4 and 8 mmol magnesium, AUCs increased by 9.5% and 16.1%, respectively. The decline in the plasma magnesium concentration after i.v. administration was compatible with a three-compartment model with a terminal half-time of about 8 h. Although no absolute value of the oral bioavailability of trimagnesium dicitrate could be determined from the data, our results may be important in helping to elucidate the influence of magnesium preparations on the plasma magnesium concentration. By comparing the effects of different preparations, it should be possible to estimate the relative oral bioavailability and the bioequivalence of these preparations.

Authors measured the thickness of the basement membranes of the proximal and distal tubuli in the renal cortex in 20 patients with verified diabetes mellitus. The test group consisted of 20 patients with small abnormalities of glomeruli (or in the range of variable norm), of the same sex and comparable age. Measurements were performed in locations without tubulo-interstitial changes. The average thickness of TBM in patients with diabetes mellitus was 1540 +/- 616 nm, and in the test group 360 +/- 86 nm, which is a statistically significant difference (p < 0.000000). In spite of the small number of cases and possible error in the manual measurement of electron microscopic pictures, a significant thickening of TBM in diabetes mellitus has been found. We consider this to be of diagnostic value.

There were 942 cases of glomerulonephritis classified according to WHO out of 1499 renal biopsies. Immunoglobulins IgG, IgA, IgM, C3 and fibrinogen were examined immunohistochemically in a standard way and IgD, IgE, albumin, C4 and HBsAg in a non-standard way. The results were compared with a control group. The results show that the excluding value of the negative immunohistochemical examination in glomerulonephritis is higher than the proving value of the positive examination.