Protective effect of severe magnesium deficiency on Plasmodium chabaudi infection.

Mice were fed for 30 days on purified diets containing 50 (severely Mg deficient diet), 100 (moderately Mg deficient diet) and 1300 mg/kg (control diet). An additional group raised on stock UAR diet was also used for the experiment. The mice were maintained on the experimental diets for 12 days before being inoculated with P. chabaudi. Infection evolved similarly in mice fed the control purified diet, moderately Mg deficient diet and the stock diet whereas the severely Mg deficient diet induced a 50% decrease in malarial infection as shown by the decrease in the percentage of parasitized red blood cells (RBC). In control mice, RBC Mg values increased significantly during P. chabaudi infection; however RBC Mg values were significantly lower in Mg-deficient than in control animals.