Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic Pathway

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). While the etiology of MS is still largely unknown, scientists believe that the interaction of several endogenous and exogenous factors may be involved in this disease. Epidemiologists have seen an i...

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Main Authors: Majid Ghareghani, Russel J. Reiter, Kazem Zibara, Naser Farhadi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Immunology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02484/full
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spelling doaj-ca3e43c13b63410f9aa0990ae8656d252020-11-24T21:46:38ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Immunology1664-32242018-10-01910.3389/fimmu.2018.02484411546Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic PathwayMajid Ghareghani0Majid Ghareghani1Russel J. Reiter2Kazem Zibara3Naser Farhadi4CERVO Brain Research Center, Quebec City, QC, CanadaMedicinal Plants Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, IranDepartment of Cell Systems and Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, United StatesPRASE, Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences-I, Lebanese University, Beirut, LebanonCellular and Molecular Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, IranMultiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). While the etiology of MS is still largely unknown, scientists believe that the interaction of several endogenous and exogenous factors may be involved in this disease. Epidemiologists have seen an increased prevalence of MS in countries at high latitudes, where the sunlight is limited and where the populations have vitamin D deficiency and high melatonin levels. Although the functions and synthesis of vitamin D and melatonin are contrary to each other, both are involved in the immune system. While melatonin synthesis is affected by light, vitamin D deficiency may be involved in melatonin secretion. On the other hand, vitamin D deficiency reduces intestinal calcium absorption leading to gut stasis and subsequently increasing gut permeability. The latter allows gut microbiota to transfer more endotoxins such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) into the blood. LPS stimulates the production of inflammatory cytokines within the CNS, especially the pineal gland. This review summarizes the current findings on the correlation between latitude, sunlight and vitamin D, and details their effects on intestinal calcium absorption, gut microbiota and neuroinflammatory mediators in MS. We also propose a new mechanistic pathway for the initiation of MS.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02484/fullmultiple sclerosislatitudesunlightvitamin Dmelatoningut microbiota
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Majid Ghareghani
Majid Ghareghani
Russel J. Reiter
Kazem Zibara
Naser Farhadi
spellingShingle Majid Ghareghani
Majid Ghareghani
Russel J. Reiter
Kazem Zibara
Naser Farhadi
Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic Pathway
Frontiers in Immunology
multiple sclerosis
latitude
sunlight
vitamin D
melatonin
gut microbiota
author_facet Majid Ghareghani
Majid Ghareghani
Russel J. Reiter
Kazem Zibara
Naser Farhadi
author_sort Majid Ghareghani
title Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic Pathway
title_short Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic Pathway
title_full Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic Pathway
title_fullStr Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic Pathway
title_full_unstemmed Latitude, Vitamin D, Melatonin, and Gut Microbiota Act in Concert to Initiate Multiple Sclerosis: A New Mechanistic Pathway
title_sort latitude, vitamin d, melatonin, and gut microbiota act in concert to initiate multiple sclerosis: a new mechanistic pathway
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Immunology
issn 1664-3224
publishDate 2018-10-01
description Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). While the etiology of MS is still largely unknown, scientists believe that the interaction of several endogenous and exogenous factors may be involved in this disease. Epidemiologists have seen an increased prevalence of MS in countries at high latitudes, where the sunlight is limited and where the populations have vitamin D deficiency and high melatonin levels. Although the functions and synthesis of vitamin D and melatonin are contrary to each other, both are involved in the immune system. While melatonin synthesis is affected by light, vitamin D deficiency may be involved in melatonin secretion. On the other hand, vitamin D deficiency reduces intestinal calcium absorption leading to gut stasis and subsequently increasing gut permeability. The latter allows gut microbiota to transfer more endotoxins such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) into the blood. LPS stimulates the production of inflammatory cytokines within the CNS, especially the pineal gland. This review summarizes the current findings on the correlation between latitude, sunlight and vitamin D, and details their effects on intestinal calcium absorption, gut microbiota and neuroinflammatory mediators in MS. We also propose a new mechanistic pathway for the initiation of MS.
topic multiple sclerosis
latitude
sunlight
vitamin D
melatonin
gut microbiota
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02484/full
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