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Effects of Dietary Cholesterol on Skin Lesions of Rats with Subacute Magnesium Deficiencies^1,2,

Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana

Skin lesions were observed in rats with both acute and subacute magnesium deficiencies when they were fed diets containing blood fibrin, glucose and saturated coconut oil as their main constituents. Cholesterol consistently increased the incidence of these skin lesions when added to diets with marginal magnesium levels. Further investigations showed that magnesium is not depleted from the skin immediately before the development of visible skin lesions. On the contrary a moderate elevation of skin magnesium levels on fresh weight basis was observed in skin that was taken from rats fed low magnesium diets just before or as skin lesions develop. The percentage dry weight of skin was lowered by lowering the dietary level of magnesium. The addition of cholesterol to diets induced the same changes in skin dry matter and magnesium content that were caused by the lowering dietary level of magnesium. It was also observed that cholesterol could promote the development of skin lesions without accumulating in the serum and without altering thyroid size or plasma protein-bound iodine levels. A magnesium balance experiment indicated that dietary cholesterol reduced the apparent intestinal absorption of magnesium. Thus it is possible that cholesterol may promote the development of skin lesions by reducing the amount of magnesium available to the tissues.

² This investigation was supported in part by grant A4740 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases.

³ Present address: Department of Medicine, Western Reserve University Medical School, Cleveland 6, Ohio.

Manuscript received 14 November 1963.