New research finds that vitamin D deficiency affects a type of brain “scaffolding” that supports the neurons. This finding could lead to new therapies for the neurological symptoms of mental health conditions such as schizophrenia.
For instance, research has suggested that insufficient vitamin D may compromise the immune system, raise the risk of hypertension, and negatively affect insulin secretion in people with type 2 diabetes. Newer studies have focused on the potential link between vitamin D and brain health.
Thomas Burne, an associate professor at the University of Queensland Brain Institute in St. Lucia, Australia, led the new research. Burne and his colleagues published their findings in the journal Trends in Neurosciences.
To determine the underlying mechanism, Burne and colleagues deprived healthy adult mice of dietary vitamin D for 20 weeks, after which they used tests to compare them with a group of control mice. Cognitive tests revealed that the mice that lacked vitamin D were less able to learn new things and remember compared with the mice in the control group. Scans of the rodents’ brains showed a reduction in the so-called perineuronal nets in the hippocampus — the brain area that is key for memory formation.
The perineuronal nets act like “scaffolding” in the brain. “These nets form a strong, supportive mesh around certain neurons, and in doing so, they stabilize the contacts these cells make with other neurons,” Burne explains. The researcher goes on to report that, “There was also a stark reduction in both the number and strength of connections between neurons in [the hippocampus].”