Vitamin B12, a nutrient we often hear about for its importance in keeping our nerves healthy and making red blood cells, has now been found to have another crucial role.
A team of researchers, led by Dr. Manuel Serrano at IRB Barcelona, has discovered that this vitamin is not just good for our general health but also plays a big part in how our body’s cells repair and rebuild themselves.
This exciting discovery was published in the journal Nature Metabolism.
Dr. Serrano and his team were studying a process in the lab that acts like the first steps of how tissues heal. During this study on mice, they found out that this process, known as cellular reprogramming, uses a lot of vitamin B12.
Surprisingly, even though mice usually get enough of this vitamin in their diet, adding more vitamin B12 made this cell repair process work even better.
This finding is not just interesting for science; it has real-world benefits too. The team tested their discovery in a condition called ulcerative colitis, which is a type of inflammatory bowel disease.
They saw that the cells in the intestines that start the healing process also did better with extra vitamin B12. This means that people with this kind of bowel disease might improve with more vitamin B12.
Dr. Serrano points out how important their research is, saying, “Our work shows that vitamin B12 is really important for cells to reprogram and repair tissues.
This can be a big step forward for regenerative medicine, and it could help patients by improving their diet.”
So, what’s so special about vitamin B12 in this cell repair process? The researchers looked closely at what cells need to transform and heal.
They found out that vitamin B12 is key for a specific part of the cell’s workings involved in a reaction called methylation.
In simple terms, when cells are starting to repair or regenerate, they need a lot of this methylation, and hence a lot of vitamin B12. If there’s not enough vitamin B12, things go wrong with how genes work, leading to errors in cell function.
Dr. Marta Kovatcheva, the first author of the study, explains that adding vitamin B12 can fix these problems, leading to better and more efficient cell repair.
Dr. Kovatcheva, who is planning to start a new lab in Milan in 2024, will continue to study these processes, focusing on how cells reprogram themselves in the body.
In summary, this research shows that vitamin B12 does more than we thought in keeping us healthy. It’s a vital part of how our body’s cells repair and renew themselves, especially important in conditions like inflammatory bowel disease.
This could lead to new ways of treating such diseases, simply by focusing on what we eat and ensuring we get enough of this essential nutrient.
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