Researchers from Columbia University have found that vitamin A reserves in the lungs are essential for the restoration of the respiratory system after injury. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, reports PCR News.
Vitamin A and related substances (retinoids) are known to control the expression of hundreds of different genes in the body of humans and many animals, including lung cells.
The authors of a new study have shown that reserves of vitamin A derivatives are stored in the lungs and used when they are acutely damaged. This is indicated by a decrease in retinoid concentrations in the lungs of mice after injury. The content of some retinoids was reduced by 80%.
The scientists showed that local retinoid stores are important for male mice to survive acute lung injury and help them resist inflammation.
To prove this, they bred genetically modified animals that were unable to accumulate retinoids. Most died after lung injury, but if animals were given retinol with food, the survival rate increased to 50%.