Impact of magnesium on epigenetics

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Prenatal under-nutrition involves changes in the epigenetic regulation of specific genes. We investigated the effects of feeding pregnant rats a magnesium(Mg)-deficient diet on the methylation of cytosine-guanine(CpG) dinucleotides in hepatic glucocorticoid genes of neonatal offspring, compared with the controls. Mean methylation of the 11ss-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-2(Hsd11b2) promoter in the Mg-deficient offspring was higher than in controls. Ppara and Nr3c1 methylation status and expression did not differ between the groups. Therefore, a Mg-deficient diet alters glucocorticoid metabolism, predicting higher hepatic intracellular glucocorticoid concentrations, and is possibly a key mechanism that induces the metabolic complications of Mg deficiency.