Vitamin A Update 2016

Dear Colleagues,

The requirement for proper vitamin A nutrition throughout the human life cycle is well established. Most of the functions of vitamin A (retinol) are attributable to its active form, retinoic acid (RA) and RA-linked gene transcription pathways regulating a multitude of cellular processes. In this Special Issue on vitamin A, the focus will be on topics in vitamin A area that have not been recently addressed, as well as on some recent discoveries regarding vitamin A metabolism and function. Among the topics covered will be the determination of vitamin A status, which is very important for providing proper nutritional guidelines, as well as for addressing health issues in world populations where vitamin A inadequacy still exists. Reliable methodology is crucial and particularly critical during gestation, so that adequate vitamin A supplementation can be implemented, reliable epidemiological studies conducted and educational approaches planned. Another review in this Special Issue will update the generation of vitamin A from its plant source pro-vitamins and will also address recent experimental findings regarding the vitamin A/beta-carotene and lipid interactions, pointing out some health-related concerns. Recent advances in metabolism and function of retinol and RA during vertebrate embryonic development will be the topic of another review, highlighting the identification of the crucial enzyme in the biogeneration of RA. This discovery has not only provided the missing regulatory link in the metabolic pathway to the active form of vitamin A, but has also opened up new avenues to study human birth defects that might be linked to errors in RA signaling. The important function of RA in the regulation of the immune system will be another topic addressed in this Special Issue. While the immune system in humans develops during gestation, hematopoiesis or the formation of blood, i.e., blood cells starts in the early embryo; these hematopoietic stem cells form new lineages during development, then expand to bone morrow where they remain after birth and during adulthood. This topic will also be covered in the Special Issue, as RA is one of the many signaling factors regulating hematopoiesis.

The Editors of Nutrients extend an invitation to scientists to submit original research or reviews on any of the above topics for this Special Issue on vitamin A.

Dr. Maija H. Zile
Guest Editor

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