ROLE OF MAGNESIUM IN NERVOUS SYSTEM

Magnesium sits inside the NMDA receptor channel as a voltage-dependent block. At resting membrane potential, Mg2+ physically occludes the pore and prevents calcium from entering the neuron. The neuron only fires when properly depolarized: glutamate binding plus sufficient voltage displacement of the Mg2+ plug. When systemic magnesium is low, that block weakens. The threshold for neuronal firing drops. Neurons become hyperexcitable, not because something is stimulating them, but because the gate that normally keeps them quiet isn't holding. This is why magnesium deficiency presents as anxiety, insomnia, and sensory irritability before anything shows up on a standard blood panel. Serum Mg reflects less than 1% of total body stores and is actively defended by renal and bone resorption, so it stays "normal" long after tissue levels have dropped. About half of US adults don't meet the RDA for magnesium (310-420 mg/day depending on age and sex), based on NHANES intake data. The mechanism described here, voltage-dependent NMDA channel block, was characterized by Mayer et al. and Nowak et al. in 1984 and is one of the best-established ion channel interactions in neuroscience. Sources: Mayer et al., Nature, 1984. Nowak et al., Nature, 1984. Rosanoff et al., Nutr Rev, 2012.

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