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JAMA Feb 2024
Topics: Humans; Pellagra; Medicine in the Arts; Portraits as Topic; History, 20th Century; Paintings
PubMed: 38214915
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.27716 -
Antioxidants & Redox Signaling Dec 2023The remarkable geometry of the axon exposes it to unique challenges for survival and maintenance. Axonal degeneration is a feature of peripheral neuropathies, glaucoma,... (Review)
Review
The remarkable geometry of the axon exposes it to unique challenges for survival and maintenance. Axonal degeneration is a feature of peripheral neuropathies, glaucoma, and traumatic brain injury, and an early event in neurodegenerative diseases. Since the discovery of Wallerian degeneration (WD), a molecular program that hijacks nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) metabolism for axonal self-destruction, the complex roles of NAD in axonal viability and disease have become research priority. The discoveries of the protective Wallerian degeneration slow (Wld) and of sterile alpha and TIR motif containing 1 (SARM1) activation as the main instructive signal for WD have shed new light on the regulatory role of NAD in axonal degeneration in a growing number of neurological diseases. SARM1 has been characterized as a NAD hydrolase and sensor of NAD metabolism. The discovery of regulators of nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase 2 (NMNAT2) proteostasis in axons, the allosteric regulation of SARM1 by NAD and NMN, and the existence of clinically relevant windows of action of these signals has opened new opportunities for therapeutic interventions, including SARM1 inhibitors and modulators of NAD metabolism. Events upstream and downstream of SARM1 remain unclear. Furthermore, manipulating NAD metabolism, an overdetermined process crucial in cell survival, for preventing the degeneration of the injured axon may be difficult and potentially toxic. There is a need for clarification of the distinct roles of NAD metabolism in axonal maintenance as contrasted to WD. There is also a need to better understand the role of NAD metabolism in axonal endangerment in neuropathies, diseases of the white matter, and the early stages of neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system. 39, 1167-1184.
Topics: Humans; Wallerian Degeneration; NAD; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases; Axons; Neurodegenerative Diseases
PubMed: 37503611
DOI: 10.1089/ars.2023.0350 -
Skinmed 2023Niacin is the third vitamin to be discovered and, therefore. is known as vitamin B3. It has a long history of medicinal use-nutritionally and as a skin tone brightening...
Niacin is the third vitamin to be discovered and, therefore. is known as vitamin B3. It has a long history of medicinal use-nutritionally and as a skin tone brightening agent in skin care. Recent studies have suggested that niacin could be useful as an adjunctive treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and mitigating the damaging effect of blue light to the skin. Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, and niacinamide, is a physiologically active form of vitamin B3. Medicinal benefits of niacin were observed in 1902, when for the first time, patients with pellagra were treated with yeast that contained vitamin B3. Niacin has a variety of uses, particularly in treating various skin conditions, including topically as an anti-acne treatment, promoting epidermal sphingolipid synthesis, moderating photoimmunosuppression, and reducing hyperpigmentation. Niacinamide could be beneficial as an adjunctive treatment for COVID-19 and for decreasing stress if the skin is excessively exposed to blue light.
Topics: Humans; Niacin; Niacinamide; Skin; Skin Diseases; COVID-19
PubMed: 38051244
DOI: No ID Found -
JAMA Jan 2024
Topics: Humans; Pellagra
PubMed: 38261055
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.18185 -
Cureus Nov 2023Vitamin B3 is called niacin, an essential nutrient for the human body. In diet, it exists in three forms - niacin, nicotinamide, and nicotinamide riboside and can also...
Vitamin B3 is called niacin, an essential nutrient for the human body. In diet, it exists in three forms - niacin, nicotinamide, and nicotinamide riboside and can also be produced from an amino acid - tryptophan in the gut. During the digestive process, these dietary forms of vitamin B3 get converted into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), which behaves as a cofactor and substrate in critical cellular reactions and thus plays a pivotal role in energy metabolism. The deficiency of this particular vitamin in the body, which manifests in different ways, is called Pellagra. We discuss one such case of niacin deficiency presenting with multisystem involvement in a chronic alcoholic.
PubMed: 38152783
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.49482