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Magnesium Research

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Effects of long-term dietary intake of magnesium on rat liver transcriptome Volume 20, numéro 4, december 2007

Auteurs
Laboratoire de biologie cellulaire, UFR des Sciences médicales et pharmaceutiques, EA 3921 OMC, Besançon, France, Novartis Pharma AG, Biomarker Development or Investigative Toxicology, Basel, Switzerland, Laboratoire de physiologie, UFR des Sciences médicales et pharmaceutiques, EA 3921 OMC, Besançon, France

In the present study we investigated the effect of a two-year treatment period with a diet containing 3.2g, 0.8 g and 0.15 g Mg/kg, on the rat liver transcriptome. At the end of the study, a treatment-dependent decrease in plasmatic Mg concentration was found (0.86 ± 0.02 mmol/L, 0.70 ± 0.02 mmol/L and 0.52 ± 0.03 mmol/L for groups receiving 3.2g, 0.8 g and 0.15 g Mg/kg diet, respectively). No significant treatment-related effect on body and liver weights was observed, however a dietary Mg intake-dependent increase in mortality rate occurred in animals (11%, 25% and 38% death of animals). Mg content in the diet affected gene expression in rat livers, as assessed by rat specific DNA microarrays. We identified 11 genes up-regulated and 39 genes down-regulated by at least two-fold by a decrease in Mg content and grouped them within five functional pathways: metabolism 20%, cytoarchitecture (connective tissue/cell adhesion/cytoskeleton) 12%, channels/transporters 20%, turn-over (nucleic acid and protein) 16%, and homeostasis (stress/DNA damage/apoptosis/ageing) 32%. The results of the present study confirm the pleiotropic effects of Mg and provide further evidence that a Mg decrease in the diet may be considered as a promoting factor for pathologies, especially in the liver, during ageing.