FIGURE 1:

Experimental design. After 1 week of acclimatization, 46 Sprague Dawley rats at 6 weeks of age underwent a partial nephrectomy and were randomly allocated to a diet that was magnesium (Mg) enriched (0.48% w/w) or with normal magnesium (0.05% w/w). In both groups, diets after nephrectomy had a high dietary phosphate (P) content. Blood was drawn from the tail vein at baseline and after 8 and 16 weeks. Five animals per group were housed individually for 24 h in metabolic cages at week 8. Rats were sacrificed after 16 weeks or when a humane endpoint was reached, and blood was collected. Aortas were harvested from all animals that had completed a study period of at least 8 weeks.