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Effect of Magnesium Deficiency in Growing Rats on Synthesis of Liver Proteins and Serum Albumin

Departments of Nutrition and Biochemistry, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06268

In vivo incorporation of L-¹⁴C-valine into serum albumin was significantly reduced in the livers of rats fed a 36% casein diet deficient in magnesium. Rate of disappearance of labeled albumin from the livers of deficient rats, however, was lower than that in pair-fed controls fed adequate magnesium. In vitro rate of incorporation of L-¹⁴C-valine by free and membrane-bound polysomes into total protein and serum albumin was consistently depressed in preparations from magnesium-deficient rats. No structural or functional changes were found in the polysomes. Most of the albumin synthesized in vitro was formed by membrane-bound polysomes and constituted 75% of the protein synthesized on this fraction. The change in protein synthetic capacity appeared to reside entirely in the supernatant fraction. There was a significant reduction in magnesium concentration of the supernatant fraction, but this was unlikely to have been the major cause of the change in rate of protein synthesis.

Manuscript received 11 July 1969.