Direct spectrophotometry of magnesium in serum after reaction with hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

We describe a simple method for determining magnesium in serum by using hexokinase (EC 2.7.1.1) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49). The method is based on determination of the reaction rate of hexokinase activated by Mg2+, which participates in the hexokinase reaction as the substrate in the form of a Mg X ATP2- complex. The reaction rate is determined from the change in absorbance at 340 nm as NADPH is produced by the action of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. This simple and rapid spectrophotometric method does not require expensive instrumentation, but results correlate satisfactorily with those obtained by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Thus, the present method gives a "true" value for magnesium in serum, a value appreciably lower than that obtained by an earlier colorimetric method, the Xylidyl Blue II method (Biochem Med 7: 208-217, 1973), which lacks specificity.