Effects of Vitamin D deficiency in a transgenic mouse model of ALS

A new York University research study yielded conflicting results about the effects of dietary deficiency of Vitamin D from an early age in the well-characterized G93A (mutant SOD-1) transgenic mousemodel of ALS. Deficiency of Vitamin D improves early disease severity and delays onset of ALS, but reduces performance in functional outcomes following disease onset. The research was conducted by graduate students Jesse Solomon and Alexandro Gianforcaro, supervised by Kinesiology Professor Mazen Hamadeh. This study appeared in the December 27^th publication of PLoS ONE.

This is the third in a series of studies from the Hamadeh laboratory. In the previous studies, the researchers found that an increased intake of Vitamin D led to improved motor performance and endurance yet no change in the disease outcomes—progression and lifespan.

In this third study the authors found that the vitamin D-deprived G93A mice did have a greater loss of motor function.  However they found a later, not an earlier, age at onset.   So they hypothesize that the loss of Vitamin D has a different effect on the motor neurons as compared to the muscles. They will explore this hypothesis in future studies.

For more information on the study, please visit: 
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029354