RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BLOOD MAGNESIUM AND PSYCHOMOTOR RETARDATION IN DRUG-FREE PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION

In previous reports, we have observed that blood magnesium was signifi cantly higher in drug-free patients with major depression when compare d to healthy controls. This was especially true for erythrocyte magnes ium. Furthermore, the most severely depressed patients had the highest intracellular magnesium content, showing that intracellular magnesium rate was related to the intensity of symptoms. We report here the res ults of blood magnesium measured in 88 major depressed patients as com pared to 61 controls. We show that the mean erythrocyte and also plasm a magnesium contents are both increased in these patients. We observe that about 40% of male and female patients have a very significant inc rease (25%) in intracellular magnesium content as compared to controls . However, about 60% of the hospitalised depressed patients have norma l values. None of the controls has high erythrocyte magnesium. This is less evident concerning the plasma magnesium. No differences are obse rved between patients when classified according to the intensity of mo ral pain or anxiety. In contrast. the patients with mild to high psych omotor retardation score, which is an index of hypoexcitability, have significant higher erythrocyte magnesium values compared with other pa tients. The results of male patients without psychomotor retardation d o not differ from control values. Our study suggests that central hypo excitability might be related to an increase in intracellular magnesiu m observed at the peripheral level, keeping in mind that hyperexcitabi lity, as observed in various conditions such as stress and cardiovascu lar disorders, is frequently associated, in contrast, with a decrease in blood magnesium. (C) 1998, Elsevier, Paris.