ARS | Publication request: HIGH DIETARY MANGANESE LOWERS HEART MAGNESIUM IN PIGS FED A LOW MAGNESIUM DIET

Submitted to: Great Lakes Regional American Chemical Society Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 6, 2000
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Young pigs were fed a diet moderately high or low in Mn (0.95 +/- 0.10, n=8 or 0.040 +/- 0.003 mmol Mn/kg, n=6) and deficient in Mg (4.1 mmol Mg/kg) for 5 wk. All 8 pigs consuming the high Mn diet died following convulsive seizures, whereas only 2 of 6 died in the group fed low Mn. In an attempt to determine the cause of death, a subsequent study examined whether an interactin between dietary Mg and Mn affected the tissue distribution of Mg and Mn. Pigs were individually fed, for five wk, diets that contained: 4.1 mmol Mg/kg and 36.0 nmol Mn/kg, 4.1 mmol Mg/kg and 0.91 mmol Mn/kg, 4.1 mmol Mg/kg and 0.91 mmol Mn/kg with added ultra-trace minerals, or 41.1 mmol Mg/kg and 0.91 mmol Mn/kg, and ultra-trace minerals. Liver and skeletal muscle Mn concentrations were significantly elevated by the high dietary Mn. Heart Mn, but heart Mg concentrations were significantly depressed by high, as compared to low, dietary Mn (38.7 +/- 3.3 versus 32.7 +/- 2.6 mmol Mg/kg). These data suggest high dietary Mn may exacerbate Mg deficiency in heart muscle, and thus may be a complicating factor in the deaths observed in Mg deficient pigs.