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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1978 Sep;75(9):4379–4383. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.9.4379

Magnesium reverses inhibitory effects of calcium deprivation on coordinate response of 3T3 cells to serum

A H Rubin 1, M Terasaki 1, H Sanui 1
PMCID: PMC336118  PMID: 279923

Abstract

Deprivation of Ca2+ in crowded cultures of 3T3 cells inhibits the onset of DNA synthesis. By raising [Mg2+] to 15 mM the inhibition produced by Ca2+ deprivation can be fully overcome. Sparse cultures are not inhibited by a similar deprivation of Ca2+, and therefore are not stimulated by supranormal [Mg2+]. The time course of stimulation of the onset of DNA synthesis by supranormal [Mg2+] in low [Ca2+] is the same as that produced by serum in physiological concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+. Concentrations of Mg2+ > 20 mM in low [Ca2+] reverse the stimulation, and [Mg2+] ≥ 30 mM kills many cells. In contrast to the stimulation by 15 mM Mg2+, supranormal [Ca2+] has no effect on the onset of DNA synthesis in cultures inhibited by Mg2+ deprivation, if the formation of insoluble Ca-Pi complexes is prevented. Neither Na+ nor K+ reproduces the effects of Mg2+. The uptake of uridine is another parameter of the coordinate response of 3T3 cells to serum stimulation that is inhibited by Ca2+ deprivation, and supranormal [Mg2+] also reverses this inhibition. The results support the thesis that the coordinate response of growth and metabolism to external effectors is regulated by the availability of Mg2+ within the cell and that the inhibitory effects of Ca2+ deprivation are indirect and caused by a reduction in the availability of Mg2+.

Keywords: growth regulation, DNA synthesis, uridine uptake

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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