MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY IN THE CHICK I. CLINICAL AND NEUROPATHOLOGIC FINDINGS *

Magnesium has been shown to be an essential constituent of the diet for the mouse (Leroy, '26), the rat (Kruse et al., '32) and the dog (Orent et al., '32). Almquist ('42) reported that magnesium deficient chicks frequently passed into a con vulsive state which sometimes terminated fatally. Duncan et al. ('35) have demonstrated that calves may succumb to magnesium tetany at almost any time after 30 days of age. When an attempt was made to rear baby chicks on highly purified diets (Bird, '45), a peculiar disorder appeared which indicated that at least one essential nutrient was not ade quately supplied by the ration. A subsequent report (Bird, '46) indicated that the symptoms of incoordination and con vulsions which were found associated with a cerebellar lesion in chicks resulted from a suboptimum level of dietary mag nesium. The present report describes both the syndrome which appeared in the chick and the neuropathology resulting from a deprivation of dietary magnesium