[The clinical importance of magnesium during neonatal life (author's transl)].

By atomic absorption spectrophotometry (ASS) the magnesium levels in the serum of 50 mothers, their mature healthy infants and the umbilical vein and the umbilical artery were determined. The differences between maternal and neonatal levels and between umbilical vein and umbilical arteries are statistically significant. The results were as follows: Antecubital venous blood of the mother 1.41 +/- 0.38 mval/1, umbilical vein serum 1.59 +/- 0.35 mval/1, umbilical artery 1.65 +/- 0.36 mval/1, neonate 1.68 +/- 0.45 mva1/1. The magnesium concentration in the erythrocytes of neonates was determined for the first time by AAS analysis. A marked variation of the normal was found. It is possible that the determined low magnesium concentrations in the erythrocytes of neonates were due to latent magnesium deprivation in these infants. The mean values for the erythrocytes of the mother (4.38 +/- 1.16 mva1/1) and the erythrocytes from the umbilical vein (3.99 +/- 1.50 mva1/1) differed significantly, whereas the erythrocytes from the umbilical vein and from the peripheral venous blood of the neonate showed no statistically significant difference. Hypomagnesiumia and hypermagnesiumia are described in brief.