GENETIC-REGULATION OF PLASMA AND RED-BLOOD-CELL MAGNESIUM CONCENTRATIONS IN MAN .1. UNIVARIATE AND BIVARIATE PATH ANALYSES

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  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 34  (6) , 874-887
Abstract
Family resemblance for Mg concentrations was analyzed, based on data from nuclear families and twins. Neither red blood cell Mg nor plasma Mg varies with age in children (under 20 yr of age). Whereas adult plasma Mg varies linearly with age, the red cell Mg clearly showed a nonlinear trend: quadratic for males and a 5th-degree polynomial for females. Transformed Mg concentrations generated 6 correlations in nuclear families and twins for each of the 2 traits. Separate univariate analyses, using a simple linear model with 4 parameters, strongly suggested that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the observed family resemblance. Both traits were then analyzed simultaneously using a simple bivariate model. One common genetic factor alone could not explain all the 24 correlations generated for the bivariate analysis. The most parsimonious model involved only 3 parameters: genetic heritability for red blood cell Mg (0.922 .+-. 0.14), genetic heritability for plasma Mg (0.721 .+-. 0.040) and the genetic correlation between the 2 traits (0.233 .+-. 0.040).