Magnesium and other electrolytes in bovine eyeballs immersed in sea water and other fluids.

Bovine eyeballs were immersed in fluids including sea water for variable intervals of time, and magnesium concentrations and those of other electrolytes were determined in the aqueous and vitreous humor. Magnesium values increased with time, but no final saturation was reached nor were the levels obtained as high as those previously reported. In human immersion fatalities, Mg++ increased comparably to the most closely stimulating experimental situation, that is, corneal exposure in an unstirred medium. At best, vitreous Mg++ appears to be an imperfect marker in estimating the length of immersion, and then only if the sample remains unhemolyzed and the total post-mortem interval is considered. Establishing or excluding the diagnosis of drowning solely by this technique seems unlikely because of ion diffusion into the eye fluids.