Vitamin D as therapeutic modulator in cerebrovascular diseases: a mechanistic perspectives

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to several major chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and cancer, linked to oxidative stress, inflammation, and aging. Vitamin D deficiency appears to be particularly harmful to the cardiovascular system, as it can cause endothelial dysfunctioning and vascular abnormalities through the modulation of various downstream mechanisms. As a result, new research indicates that therapeutic approaches targeting vitamin D inadequacies or its significant downstream effects, such as impaired autophagy, abnormal pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidant reactions, may delay the onset and severity of major cerebrovascular disorders such as stroke and neurologic malformations. Vitamin D modulates the various molecular pathways, i.e., Nitric Oxide, PI3K-Akt Pathway, cAMP pathway, NF-kB Pathway, Sirtuin 1, Nrf2, FOXO, in cerebrovascular disorder. The current review shows evidence for vitamin D’s mitigating or slowing the progression of these cerebrovascular disorders, which are significant causes of disability and death worldwide.

Keywords:

• Cerebrovascular disease
• hypertension
• inflammation
• oxidative stress
• vitamin D

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their appreciation to the Chitkara University Punjab for support.

Competing interests

There are no conflicts of interest.

Credit author statement

Conceptualization: Conceived and designed the experiments: Thakur Gurjeet Singh. Analyzed the data: Amarjot Kaur. Wrote the manuscript: Vivek Rihal, Heena khan. Visualization: Amarjot Kaur Editing of the Manuscript: Heena khan, Amarjot Kaur, Thakur Gurjeet Singh Critically reviewed the article: Thakur Gurjeet Singh Supervision: Thakur Gurjeet Singh.

All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University.