Severe hypomagnesemia in a neonate with isolated renal magnesium loss

Genetics of hereditary disorders of magnesium homeostasis

Magnesium plays an essential role in many biochemical and physiological processes. Homeostasis of magnesium is tightly regulated and depends on the balance between intestinal absorption and renal excretion. During the last decades, various hereditary disorders of magnesium handling have been clinically characterized and genetic studies in affected individuals have led to the identification of some molecular components of cellular magnesium transport. In addition to these hereditary forms of magnesium deficiency, recent studies have revealed a high prevalence of latent hypomagnesemia in the general population. This finding is of special interest in view of the association between hypomagnesemia and common chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and asthma. However, valuable methods for the diagnosis of body and tissue magnesium deficiency are still lacking. This review focuses on clinical and genetic aspects of hereditary disorders of magnesium homeostasis. We will review primary defects of epithelial magnesium transport, disorders associated with defects in Ca(2+)/ Mg(2+) sensing, as well as diseases characterized by renal salt wasting and hypokalemic alkalosis, with special emphasis on disturbed magnesium homeostasis.

Recent advances in molecular genetics of hereditary magnesium-losing disorders

Recent advances in molecular genetics in hereditary hypomagnesemia substantiated the role of a variety of genes and their encoded proteins in human magnesium transport mechanisms. This knowledge on underlying genetic defects helps to distinguish different clinical subtypes and gives first insight into molecular components involved in magnesium transport. By mutation analysis and functional protein studies, novel pathophysiologic aspects were elucidated. For some of these disorders, transgenic animal models were generated to study genotype-phenotype relations and disease pathology. This review will discuss genetic and clinical aspects of familial disorders associated with magnesium wasting and focuses on the recent progress that has been made in molecular genetics. Besides isolated renal forms of hereditary hypomagnesemia, the following disorders will also be presented: familial hypomagnesemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis, hypomagnesemia with secondary hypocalcemia, Ca2+/Mg2+-sensing receptor-associated disorders, and disorders associated with renal salt-wasting and hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis, comprising the Gitelman syndrome and the Bartter-like syndromes.

Inherited disorders of renal magnesium handling

The genetic basis and cellular defects of a number of primary magnesium wasting diseases have been elucidated over the past decade. This review correlates the clinical pathophysiology with the primary defect and secondary changes in cellular electrolyte transport. The described disorders include (1) hypomagnesemia with secondary hypocalcemia, an earlyonset, autosomal-recessive disease segregating with chromosome 9q12-22.2; (2) autosomal-dominant hypomagnesemia caused by isolated renal magnesium wasting, mapped to chromosome 11q23; (3) hypomagnesemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis, a recessive condition caused by a mutation of the claudin 16 gene (3q27) coding for a tight junctional protein that regulates paracellular Mg(2+) transport in the loop of Henle; (4) autosomal-dominant hypoparathyroidism, a variably hypomagnesemic disorder caused by inactivating mutations of the extracellular Ca(2+)/Mg(2+)-sensing receptor, CASR: gene, at 3q13.3-21 (a significant association between common polymorphisms of the CASR: and extracellular Mg(2+) concentration has been demonstrated in a healthy adult population); and (5) Gitelman syndrome, a recessive form of hypomagnesemia caused by mutations in the distal tubular NaCl cotransporter gene, SLC12A3, at 16q13. The basis for renal magnesium wasting in this disease is not known. These inherited conditions affect different nephron segments and different cell types and lead to variable but increasingly distinguishable phenotypic presentations. No doubt, there are in the general population other disorders that have not yet been identified or characterized. The continued use of molecular techniques to probe the constitutive and congenital disturbances of magnesium metabolism will increase the understanding of cellular magnesium transport and provide new insights into the way these diseases are diagnosed and managed.