The Role of Vitamin A in Support of Vision
Abstract
As humans age, many notice progressive deterioration in vision. This is because of photoreceptor cell death, specifically the rod and cone cells that make up the retina. These rods and cones are primarily made of vitamin A. Thus, vitamin A is important for vision. Since Vitamin A is inert, once it enters the body it must be transported to the eye so it can be used to maintain the structure of the retina and the photoreceptor cells within it. The deterioration in vision that humans experience while aging is brought upon by the shutdown of these Vitamin A cellular pathways in the systemic tissue (liver, intestine, etc.). Furthering our understanding of these pathways is key to preventing future vision problems brought on by aging. By conducting body-wide shutdown of the vitamin A pathways in Zebrafish models, it was found that the model quickly experienced severe vision loss, overall retinal distortion, and photoreceptor cell death. While Zebrafish are important to use as models because they were easier to develop, mice better mirror the effects this mutation would have on humans. In the mouse models, the shutdown mutation was isolated to different organs so that the location of the key pathways could be confirmed. As expected, the key pathways were located in the systemic tissue. This isolated mutation is also being used to determine if and where other pathways exist. Further research is currently being conducted on these possible alternative vitamin A pathways.
The Role of Vitamin A in Support of Vision
Founders Hall 142 A
As humans age, many notice progressive deterioration in vision. This is because of photoreceptor cell death, specifically the rod and cone cells that make up the retina. These rods and cones are primarily made of vitamin A. Thus, vitamin A is important for vision. Since Vitamin A is inert, once it enters the body it must be transported to the eye so it can be used to maintain the structure of the retina and the photoreceptor cells within it. The deterioration in vision that humans experience while aging is brought upon by the shutdown of these Vitamin A cellular pathways in the systemic tissue (liver, intestine, etc.). Furthering our understanding of these pathways is key to preventing future vision problems brought on by aging. By conducting body-wide shutdown of the vitamin A pathways in Zebrafish models, it was found that the model quickly experienced severe vision loss, overall retinal distortion, and photoreceptor cell death. While Zebrafish are important to use as models because they were easier to develop, mice better mirror the effects this mutation would have on humans. In the mouse models, the shutdown mutation was isolated to different organs so that the location of the key pathways could be confirmed. As expected, the key pathways were located in the systemic tissue. This isolated mutation is also being used to determine if and where other pathways exist. Further research is currently being conducted on these possible alternative vitamin A pathways.
