Vitamin A exerts its activity at the transcriptional level in the small intestine

Abstract

Our results suggest that vitamin-A deficiency modifies the maturation and differentiation processes of the small intestinal mucosa at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels respectively. This in turn may be one explanation for the alteration or elimination of nutrient digestion and absorption during VAD.

Global effects of vitamin A deficiency on gene expression in rat liver: evidence for hypoandrogenism

“…Broadly, the microarray data on gene expression showed that vitamin A deficiency is a catabolic state that might in part be due to decreased nutrient availability [7]. Increased plasma FFAs stimulates PPARa-controlled pathways, which generally promote fat oxidation or export as lipoproteins, and inhibits SREBP-1-regulated genes, which are involved in fat synthesis; both of these changes were detected in the vitamin A-deficient rats of this study ( Table 6).…”

“…Decreased IGF-1 levels are also seen in starvation and calorie or diet restriction [5,6]. The effects of diet and vitamin A deficiency on IGF-1 may be related because vitamin A deficiency changes enzyme levels and histology of the small intestine accompanied by increased inflammation that can lead to decreased absorption of nutrients and decreased growth [7]. The liver is the major storage organ for retinol and is involved in most aspects of vitamin A homeostasis.…”

Host Immunity and Pathogen Strain Contribute to Intestinal Disaccharidase Impairment following Gut Infection

“…an increased proportion of immature enterocytes). Indeed, changes in the maturation of epithelial cells can involve both transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of disaccharidase enzymes (8, 29). …”

Bacterial population and innate immunity-related genes in rat gastrointestinal tract are altered by vitamin A-deficient diet

“…In previous studies, we reported that VAD induces morphological and functional changes in chicken and rat small intestines [5][6][7].…”