Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1963 May;16(3):252–255. doi: 10.1136/jcp.16.3.252

Sensitive methods for the titrimetric micro-determination of biological calcium and magnesium

R N Beale 1,2, J O Bostrom 1,2
PMCID: PMC480553  PMID: 13969919

Abstract

New reagents containing high concentrations of urea are developed for micro-titration of calcium and magnesium, with ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (E.D.T.A.) as titrant and Corinth Ca (Plasmocorinth B) as indicator.

Magnesium is determined as the difference between calcium plus magnesium and calcium.

Quantitative aspects are studied, and accurate titration of untreated serum or urine is believed to be possible; precision is satisfactory.

The methods are simple, robust, and suitable for routine use.

Normal ranges are established for serum from blood donors of each sex. The mean serum calcium level for women is found to be lower than for men, while the mean magnesium contents are approximately the same. The latter appear to be somewhat lower than values found by flame emission spectrophotometry; in very good agreement with a mean value for plasma obtained by flame absorption spectrophotometry; and intermediate when compared with the values obtained by two other titrimetric procedures.

Full text

PDF

Selected References

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

  1. ALCOCK N., MACINTYRE I., RADDE I. The determination of magnesium in biological fluids and tissues by flame spectrophotometry. J Clin Pathol. 1960 Nov;13:506–510. doi: 10.1136/jcp.13.6.506. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BEALE R. N., BOSTROM J. O., TAYLOR R. F. Improved rapid methods for the determination of iron content and binding capacity of serum. J Clin Pathol. 1962 Mar;15:156–160. doi: 10.1136/jcp.15.2.156. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. CARR M. H., FRANK H. A. Improved method for determination of calcium and magnesium in biologic fluids by EDTA titration. Am J Clin Pathol. 1956 Oct;26(10):1157–1168. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/26.10.1157. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. DAWSON J. B., HEATON F. W. The determination of magnesium in biological materials by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Biochem J. 1961 Jul;80:99–106. doi: 10.1042/bj0800099. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. FAWCETT J. K., WYNN V. The determination of magnesium in biological materials by flame photometry. J Clin Pathol. 1961 Jul;14:403–409. doi: 10.1136/jcp.14.4.403. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. FISHER M., HINDMAN W. M., ZAK B. Spectrophotometric titration of serum calcium and magnesium. Am J Clin Pathol. 1956 Sep;26(9):1081–1093. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/26.9_ts.1081. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. HORNER W. H. The determination of calcium in biologic material. J Lab Clin Med. 1955 Jun;45(6):951–957. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. KOVACS G. S., TARNOKY K. E. A simple and rapid method for the simulataneous determination of calcium and magnesium from the same sample of blood serum. J Clin Pathol. 1960 Mar;13:160–162. doi: 10.1136/jcp.13.2.160. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. MONTGOMERY R. D. The estimation of magnesium in small biological samples by flame spectrophotometry. J Clin Pathol. 1961 Jul;14:400–402. doi: 10.1136/jcp.14.4.400. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. VAN FOSSAN D. D., BAIRD E. E., TEKELL G. S. A simplified flame spectrophotometric method for estimation of magnesium in serum. Am J Clin Pathol. 1959 Apr;31(4):368–370. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/31.4_ts.368. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES