RT journal article
T1 Vitamin D deficiency as a potential risk factor for accelerated aging, impaired hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive decline: a role for Wnt/β-catenin signaling
A1 Gómez Oliva, Ricardo
A1 Geribaldi Doldán, Noelia
A1 Domínguez García, Samuel
A1 Carrascal, Livia
A1 Verástegui Escolano, Cristina
A1 Nunez Abades, Pedro
A1 Castro González, Carmen
A2 Anatomía y Embriología Humana
AB Vitamin D is an essential fat-soluble vitamin that participates in several homeostatic functions in mammalian organisms. Lower levels of vitamin D are produced in the older population, vitamin D deficiency being an accelerating factor for the progression of the aging process. In this review, we focus on the effect that vitamin D exerts in the aged brain paying special attention to the neurogenic process. Neurogenesis occurs in the adult brain in neurogenic regions, such as the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (DG). This region generates new neurons that participate in cognitive tasks. The neurogenic rate in the DG is reduced in the aged brain because of a reduction in the number of neural stem cells (NSC). Homeostatic mechanisms controlled by the Wnt signaling pathway protect this pool of NSC from being depleted. We discuss in here the crosstalk between Wnt signaling and vitamin D, and hypothesize that hypovitaminosis might cause failure in the control of the neurogenic homeostatic mechanisms in the old brain leading to cognitive impairment. Understanding the relationship between vitamin D, neurogenesis and cognitive performance in the aged brain may facilitate prevention of cognitive decline and it can open a door into new therapeutic fields by perspectives in the elderly.
SN 1945-4589
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/34747
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/34747
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 05-nov-2026