Paper
The nature of the neuromuscular block produced by magnesium
Published May 28, 1954 · DOI · B. J. D. Castillo, L. Engbaek
The Journal of Physiology
613
Citations
3
Influential Citations
Abstract
Magnesium is a physiologically occurring cation which blocks neuromuscular transmission in concentrations which do not prevent either nerve conduction or the muscle response to direct stimulation. This block is counteracted by increasing the calcium concentration (for a review of the literature see Engbaek, 1952). Magnesium, like curarine, reduces the stimulating effect of acetylcholine on muscle; it prevents the contractions which follow local application of that substance to the end-plate region (Engbaek, 1948). Some differences between the action of magnesium and that of curarine have however been described; magnesium, for example, prevents the contracture caused by potassium more readily than that produced by acetylcholine. The object of this work was to provide information on the mechanism of action of magnesium at the neuromuscular junction, by studying separately, as far as was possible, its effect on each of the different stages of the process of impulse transmission from nerve to muscle.
Magnesium blocks neuromuscular transmission in concentrations that do not prevent nerve conduction or muscle response to direct stimulation, but counteract this block by increasing calcium concentration.
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