Vitamin D and neurodegenerative diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases, featured by progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, are considered incurable at present. Movement disorders like tremor and postural instability, cognitive or behavioral disorders such as memory impairment are the most common symptoms of them and the growing patient population of neurodegenerative diseases poses a serious threat to public health and a burden on economic development. Hence, it is vital to prevent the occurrence of the diseases and delay their progress. Vitamin D can be transformed into a hormone in vivo with both genomic and non-genomic actions, exerting diverse physiological effects. Cumulative evidence indicates that vitamin D can ameliorate neurodegeneration by regulating pertinent molecules and signaling pathways including maintaining Ca(2+) homeostasis, reducing oxidative stress, inhibiting inflammation, suppressing the formation and aggregation of the pathogenic protein, etc. This review updates discoveries of molecular mechanisms underlying biological functions of vitamin D in neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and vascular dementia. Clinical trials investigating the influence of vitamin D supplementation in patients with neurodegenerative diseases are also summarized. The synthesized information will probably provoke an enhanced understanding of the neuroprotective roles of vitamin D in the nervous system and provide therapeutic options for patients with neurodegenerative diseases in the future.