EXPERIMENTAL CALCIUM-MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY IN RATS: CHEMICAL AND HISTOCHEMICAL STUDY

Chemical and histochemical profiles of central nervous system tissues, skeletal and cardiac muscles and visceral organs of experimental calciummagnesium deficient rats and control animals were studied. Six to eight weeks after a feeding schedule of a calcium-magnesium deficient diet, the calcium concentration in the kidney increased twenty-five fold over that of the control and there was a moderate increase in the spinal cord and skeletal muscle. Fluctuation of the magnesium concentration was insignificant. A decrease in succinic dehydrogenase activity demonstrated in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, spinal cord, kidney and skeletal muscle corresponds to tissue morphology, for example, atrophy and a decreased SDH type II muscle fiber was noted in gastrocnemius tissue specimens. Acetylcholinesterase activity in the motor end-plate of the gastrocnemius muscle showed a slight decrease in enzyme activity and a swelling of the motor end-plate. The severe histochemical changes of SDH and acid phosphatase activities in renal tubules and hepatic parenchymal cells suggest a progression of cellular catabolism related to lysosomal enzyme activity.