Rhonda Patrick· PhD
but we do know that magnesium is a vital co-enzyme that plays a crucial role in a a variety of biochemical processes in the brain so it serves as the key factor in a variety of brain specific enzymes so adenosine triphosphatases these are atpases they're crucial enzymes that control our ability to hydrolyze ATP which is the major energy source for all of our cells very important in the brain so magnesium is a co-actor it's essential for those enzymes to properly function and you know this is really important for the sodium pottassium atpa and the calcium atpa which help establish this electrochemical gradient across our cellular membranes in our brain it's essential for neuronal function another enzyme would be involved with creatine so everyone you guys have heard of creatine uh most people think about it in the context of bodybuilding muscle muscle mass but it also um is important in the brain as well so creatine passes phosphate groups um from phosphocreatine to ADP to make ATP that energy currency and so you know the enzymes that are doing this again require magnesium to do it so another reason why magnesium would be important for the brain it's also important for another enzyme called glutamine synthetase so this enzyme it enables the conver ver of glutamate into ammonia and glutamine and magnesium is required for the appropriate function of this enzyme because and this is really critical because maintaining that glutamate to glutamine balance in the brain is important for preventing exot toxicity so this could potentially lead to neuronal damage if you if you're not maintaining that balance you might have too much glutamate which could lead to that excitotoxicity and neurotoxicity right so too much excitatory activity from gluto you'll end up you could end up with neuronal damage so magnesium plays this is just three examples of enzymes in the brain where magnesium plays a critical function and why magnesium is so crucial for brain function