The Chromoscience

Vitamin B12 May Alleviate Parkinson’s Disease

Benison P. Zerrudo
2–3 minutes

Loading

Advertisements
Advertisements
Related Topics

  • Cobalamin, also known as Vitamin B12, is a water-soluble vitamin associated with metabolism.[2]
  • Vitamin B12 plays an important role in the normal functioning of the nervous system.[2]
  • Myelin works as an insulator of nerve cell axon to increase the rate of electrical impulses.[3]
  • Severe vitamin B12 deficiencies have been associated to damage of learning and memory ability, cognitive decline, and neurological diseases.
  • Alpha-synuclein is a protein with unknown function usually found in neural tissue making up as much as 1% of all proteins in the cytosol of brain cells.[4]
  • Alpha-synuclein is predominantly expressed in the neocortex, hippocampus, substantia nigra, thalamus, and cerebellum.[5]
  • Defective and clustering of alpha-synuclein into insoluble fibrils is linked with the beginning and progression of Parkinson’s disease.
  • Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological movement disorder which affects tens of millions of elderly patients around the world.
  • One topic of intense research is the development of new inhibitory drugs that can obstruct the clustering of alpha-synuclein.
  • Researchers analyzed the inhibitory capability of vitamin B12 against the development of fibrils and cytotoxicity of alpha-synuclein.
  • Results suggest that vitamin B12 could inhibit alpha-synuclein fibril development in a dose-dependent manner.
  • Data suggest that vitamin B12 delays the conversion of alpha-synuclein into β-sheet rich structures.
  • As a result, vitamin B12 significantly reduced the cytotoxicity of alpha-synuclein clusters.
  • Additionally, vitamin B12 was found to disassemble preexisting mature alpha-synuclein fibrils and reduce the subsequent cytotoxicity.
  • The study provides a comprehensive understanding of the inhibitory capability of vitamin B12 on alpha-synuclein fibril development and identify an important nutrient source that possesses significant potential to be developed as a new functional food ingredient to help relieve Parkinson’s disease.

Sources:

Jia, L., , Wang, Y., , Wei, W., , Zhao, W., , Lu, F., , & Liu, F., (2019). Vitamin B12 inhibits α-synuclein fibrillogenesis and protects against amyloid-induced cytotoxicity. Food & function, 10(5), 2861–2870. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8fo02471e

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12

[3] Bean, Bruce P. (June 2007). “The action potential in mammalian central neurons”. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 8 (6): 451–465. doi:10.1038/nrn2148. ISSN 1471-0048. PMID 17514198. S2CID 205503852

[4] Iwai A, Masliah E, Yoshimoto M, Ge N, Flanagan L, de Silva HA, et al. (February 1995). “The precursor protein of non-A beta component of Alzheimer’s disease amyloid is a presynaptic protein of the central nervous system”. Neuron. 14 (2): 467–75. doi:10.1016/0896-6273(95)90302-X. PMID 7857654. S2CID 17941420

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-synuclein

Advertisements
Advertisements
AI Disclosure Statement:
The Chromoscience uses AI-assisted tools to support the preparation and editing of science articles. Content is reviewed by the editor for clarity and consistency with the cited research before publication. Readers are encouraged to consult the original scientific publications for complete findings, methods, and limitations.

LATEST