Magnesium Acetate

Magnesium acetate significantly increased aquaporin-3 mRNA expression by approximately 3.5-fold and protein expression by approximately 3-fold in human epidermal keratinocyte HaCaT cells compared to control cells after 6 hours of treatment. Among several magnesium compounds tested including magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate and magnesium lactate, magnesium acetate exhibited the strongest effect on AQP3 expression. Magnesium acetate enhanced the phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), a transcription factor involved in AQP3 gene regulation. The increase in AQP3 expression induced by magnesium acetate was suppressed by treatment with the protein kinase A inhibitor H-89, indicating that the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway mediates this effect.
This study demonstrated that magnesium acetate regulates AQP3 expression through activation of the cAMP/PKA pathway and subsequent CREB phosphorylation. These findings suggest that magnesium compounds may exert a skin-moisturizing effect by upregulating AQP3 expression and may be useful for the prevention and treatment of age-associated xeroderma.

Fig. 1 Mechanism of Magnesium Acetate. (Ikarashi N.; et al. 2023)

pH-sensitive magnesium-doxorubicin liposomes were constructed by remote-loading of doxorubicin into magnesium acetate gradient liposomes. The prepared 100 nm Mg-DOX liposomes and folate receptor-targeting FA-Mg-DOX-Lip100 were stable at physiological pH but gradually released DOX at acidic media. The FA-Mg-DOX-Lip100 exhibited much higher uptake by tumor cells and cytotoxicity in vitro than non-targeted liposomes. The Mg-DOX liposomes showed stability in circulation in mice and delayed the growth of orthotopic EO771 tumors in C57BL/6 mice at 5 mg/kg DOX dose every 4 days for 4 times, without observable morphologic change of dissected organs. The pH-sensitive Mg-DOX liposomes were successfully constructed and approved to be a potential antitumor delivery system to treat acidic tumors.

Fig. 2 Remote-loading of DOX into MgAc2 gradient liposomes and pH-sensitive release of DOX for therapy of acidic tumor. (Yang Y.; et al. 2025)