Effects of magnesium infusions in diuretic induced hyponatraemia.

Eight hyponatraemic patients with severe congestive heart failure, long-term diuretic treatment, oedema, and increasing resistance to diuretic treatment, were studied with skeletal muscle biopsies and serum electrolytes before and after magnesium infusions. The infusions resulted in an increasing serum sodium level, a decrease in muscle sodium and chloride, and an increase in muscle potassium. The effect was probably mediated through the magnesium effect on membrane ATPase.