Vitamin D3 may be effective in the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, myocardial infarction, vasculopathy, stroke and diabetes.
"Generally, vitamin D3 is associated with the bones. However, in recent years, in clinical settings people recognize that many patients who have a heart attack will have a deficiency of D3," said Ohio University's Professor Tadeusz Malinski.
"It doesn't mean that the deficiency caused the heart attack, but it increased the risk of heart attack."
"We use nanosensors to see why D3 can be beneficial, especially for the function and restoration of the cardiovascular system."
Professor Malinski and his colleagues, Alamzeb Khan and Hazem Dawoud, have developed unique methods and systems of measurements using nanosensors to track the impacts of vitamin D3 on single endothelial cells, a vital regulatory component of the cardiovascular system.
A major discovery from these studies is that D3 is a powerful stimulator of nitric oxide, which is a major signaling molecule in the regulation of blood flow and the prevention of the formation of clots in the cardiovasculature. Additionally, D3 significantly reduced the level of oxidative stress in the cardiovascular system.
Most importantly, these studies show that treatment with D3 can significantly restore the damage to the cardiovascular system caused by several diseases, including hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes, while also reducing the risk of heart attack.
"There are not many, if any, known systems which can be used to restore cardiovascular endothelial cells which are already damaged, and D3 can do it," Professor Malinski said.
"This is a very inexpensive solution to repair the cardiovascular system. We don't have to develop a new drug. We already have it."
These studies are the first to identify the molecular mechanism of vitamin D3-triggered restoration of the function of damaged endothelium in the cardiovasculature.
While the studies were performed using a cellular model of hypertension, the implication of D3 on dysfunctional endothelium is much broader.
The dysfunction of endothelium is a common denominator of several cardiovascular diseases, particularly those associated with ischemic events.
"Therefore, D3 may be of clinical importance in the restoration of dysfunctional cardiac endothelium after heart attack, capillary endothelium after brain ischemia (stroke), hypovolemia, vasculopathy, diabetes and atherosclerosis," the researchers said.
The results are published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine.
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