Fig. 3.

Short-term (3 days) dietary Mg²⁺ restriction downregulates total Na⁺-Cl⁻ cotransporter (tNCC). A: plasma [K⁺] did not differ between the diets (two-tailed unpaired t-test). Plasma ionized [Ca²⁺] (i-[Ca²⁺]) was significantly lower on Mg²⁺-deficient diet (D) compared with normal diet (N) (two-tailed unpaired t-test), and plasma [Mg²⁺] was significantly lower on Mg²⁺-deficient diet than on normal diet (two-tailed unpaired t-test) B: Western blot analysis of whole kidney lysates showed that tNCC abundance was significantly lower on Mg²⁺-deficient diet than on normal diet (two-tailed unpaired t-test). C: abundance of phosphorylated (p)NCC was also significantly lower on Mg²⁺-deficient diet compared with normal diet (two-tailed unpaired t-test). For blot quantification, densitometric values were normalized using Coomassie-stained gels. Values are means ± SE; values in parentheses indicate n values. *P < 0.05; **P = 0.0001.