Commentary

Increase of free Mg²⁺ in the skeletal muscle of chronic fatigue syndrome patients

Kevin K McCully¹, Emil Malucelli² and Stefano Iotti²

¹  Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602

²  Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Biotecnologia Applicata, Università di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy

Dynamic Medicine 2006, 5:1doi:10.1186/1476-5918-5-1

Published:	11 January 2006

Abstract

In a previous study we evaluated muscle blood flow and muscle metabolism in patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). To better understand muscle metabolism in CFS, we re-evaluated our data to calculate free Magnesium levels in skeletal muscle. Magnesium is an essential cofactor in a number of cell processes. A total of 20 CFS patients and 11 controls were evaluated. Phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy from the medial gastrocnemius muscle was used to calculate free Mg²⁺ from the concentrations and chemical shifts of Pi, PCr, and beta ATP peaks. CFS patients had higher magnesium levels in their muscles relative to controls (0.47 + 0.07 vs 0.36 + 0.06 mM, P < 0.01), although there was no difference in the rate of phosphocreatine recovery in these subjects, as reported earlier. This finding was not associated with abnormal oxidative metabolism as measured by the rate of recovery of phosphocreatine after exercise. In summary, calculation of free Mg²⁺ levels from previous data showed CFS patients had higher resting free Mg²⁺ levels compared to sedentary controls.