revised: Vitamin D and pollutants: relevance to autism and chronic diseases

[Guest guest]

I have revised the vitamin D paper. Thank you to individuals who commented.

In response to a listmate's prompting, I perused and added an important

citation by AW Norman (2008).

Also added:

i) brief commentary and citations regarding human data for interactions

among polymorphisms of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, various cytochrome

p450 alleles, and variants of glutathione-related enzymes,

ii) discussion and citations concerning the need for more complex models

of toxicities, and

iii) obesity and PCOS, because these pathologies too have findings of

low vitamin D as well as findings of intra-body pollutants.

While awaiting pdf formatting (not by OpenOffice), the essay is

available in MS Word doc format at

http://ravenintellections.com/vitamin_D_and_pollutants.doc

*/Vitamin D and pollutants:/*

*/relevance to autism and chronic disease/*

Binstock

April 27, 2012

Revised 05-02-12

*/Abstract/*: Low levels of vitamin D are associated with various

diseases and with various pollutants. A recently published study

suggested that low levels of vitamin D might have been caused by the

intra-body presence of organochlorine pesticides (PMID: 22295072

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22295072>). Numerous studies

describe a) enzymatic production of calcitriol by CYP27B1, and

calcitriol's catabolism by two enzymes, CYP3A4 and CYP24A1. Regulation

of calcitriol levels in humans is complex and has tissue-specific

variation. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and the pregnane X

receptor (PXR aka SXR, the steroid and xenobiotic sensing nuclear

receptor) participate in processes leading to the catabolism of

calcitriol.AHR and PXR can be activated by various pollutants including

but possibly not limited to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, bisphenol

A, phthalates, PCBs, and at least some organochlorine molecules. Since

vitamin D has so many important functions, whether or not low levels of

vitamin D can be induced by intra-body pollutants merits investigation.

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The essay is available in MS Word doc format at

http://ravenintellections.com/vitamin_D_and_pollutants.doc

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PS: /This post may be forwarded hither & yon.

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