Necessity of Magnesium in the Pyruvate Oxidation System of Brain

Abstract

THE necessity of Mg++ in enzymic reactions involving transfer of phosphate groups through the adenylic acid system is well known. More recently, Mn++ has also been shown to be active in reactions of this type1. Further, Auhagen2 and later Lohmann and Schuster3 showed that the decarboxylation of pyruvic acid by yeast requires Mg++ (or Mn++). This made it likely that these ions are also necessary for the oxidative breakdown of pyruvic acid in animal tissues, the more so as this breakdown is related with reactions involving the adenylic acid system1.