Influence of magnesium deficiency on liver collagen after carbon tetrachloride or ethanol administration to rats.

The effects of magnesium deficiency on liver collagen after the administration of a hepatotoxic substance were investigated. Rats, fed a control or magnesium-deficient diet (0.040 g/kg), received six CCl4 or mineral oil injections administered at 2-d intervals starting from the first day of diet treatment. They were killed 3 or 12 d after the last injection. Between postinjection d 3 and 12, no change of magnesium concentration in liver was observed in the deficient rats. Three days after the end of treatment liver calcium in the magnesium-deficient CCl4-treated rats was higher than in any other group. Liver collagen of untreated control rats and untreated magnesium-deficient rats was not significantly different. In control and magnesium-deficient animals receiving CCl4 treatment, the liver collagen levels were significantly higher than in untreated rats. The magnesium-deficient rats receiving CCl4 have higher liver collagen than the controls receiving CCl4. In a second experiment the effect of suboptimum intake of magnesium (0.120 g/kg) combined with the ingestion of ethanol was studied in rats given a solution of ethanol in water for 55 d as their only source of fluid. Mortality occurred in the magnesium-deficient rats receiving ethanol, and body weights of these rats were lower than those of animals in the other three groups. The collagen concentration in liver was higher in magnesium-deficient rats consuming ethanol than in any other group. The synergistic action between magnesium deficiency and ethanol therefore appears to be analogous to that observed with CCl4.