Open AccessVitamin D and multiple sclerosis: Potential pathophysiological role and clinical implications
Author(s) -
Sharmila Dudani,
Shivani Kalhan,
Sonia Sharma
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of applied and basic medical research/international journal of applied and basic medical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2248-9606
pISSN - 2229-516X
DOI - 10.4103/2229-516x.91146
Subject(s) - multiple sclerosis , vitamin d and neurology , hypovitaminosis , disease , medicine , pathophysiology , vitamin , central nervous system , physiology , vitamin d deficiency , bioinformatics , immunology , biology
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is thought to arise due to an interplay of genetic and environmental risk factors. Vitamin D, besides maintaining bone health and calcium metabolism, is thought to play an immunomodulatory role in the central nervous system. Studies have shown that patients with the highest level of Vitamin D (99-152 nmol/l) had a significantly lower risk of MS than the subgroup with the lowest levels (15-63 nmol/l). Furthermore, populations having a high oral intake of vitamin D had a decreased risk of MS. Hypovitaminosis D is one of the environmental risk factors for MS based on numerous physiological, experimental and epidemiologic data, which can be corrected to provide an effective therapeutic option for this debilitating disease.