anyone with further elaboration of function of Vit A and neurodegenerative diseases??? following abstract interesting, though barely informative. thanks, madelyn
Vol. 64 No. 12, December 2007 Archives


Functional Implication of the Vitamin A Signaling Pathway in the Brain
Mehdi Tafti, PhD; Norbert B. Ghyselinck, PhD


Arch Neurol. 2007;64(12):1706-1711.

Vitamin A is necessary for normal embryonic development, but its role in the adult brain is poorly understood. Vitamin A derivatives, retinoids, are involved in a complex signaling pathway that regulates gene expression and, in the central nervous system, controls neuronal differentiation and neural tube patterning. Although a major functional implication of retinoic signaling has been repeatedly suggested in synaptic plasticity, learning and memory, sleep, schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson disease, and Alzheimer disease, the targets and the underlying mechanisms in the adult brain remain elusive.