Vitamin D and Human Health: Lessons from Vitamin D Receptor Null Mice

The vitamin D endocrine system is essential for calcium and bone homeostasis. The precise mode of action and the full spectrum of activities of the vitamin D hormone, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25-(OH)(2)D], can now be better evaluated by critical analysis of mice with engineered deletion of the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Absence of a functional VDR or the key activating enzyme, 25-OHD-1alpha-hydroxylase (CYP27B1), in mice creates a bone and growth plate phenotype that mimics humans with the same congenital disease or severe vitamin D deficiency. The intestine is the key target for the VDR because high calcium intake, or selective VDR rescue in the intestine, restores a normal bone and growth plate phenotype.…

• FW
  Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

  Awards: G.0649.08, 0649.08, G.0233.04
• KL
  KU Leuven
• VR
  Vlaamse regering
• NI
  National Institutes of Health