Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Role in Pathologies of Oxidative Stress: A Literature Review

Vitamin D (VD) is a key mineral providing critical modulation of reduction-oxidation homeostasis within biological systems. VD and the VD receptor coordinate essential cellular activities, including mitochondrial electron transport, respiration, antioxidation, gene regulation, and calcium transportation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), a natural by-product of cellular metabolism, play a prominent role in the mechanisms of biological antioxidant systems and form the basis of antioxidant therapies. However, ROS may also perpetuate pathological processes when produced in excess secondary to inflammatory pathways. Aging processes within cells rely on this reduction-oxidation homeostasis. Thus, the interaction with VD, its receptor, mitochondria, and oxidative stress forms the basis of nearly every known degenerative pathology, citing examples summarized throughout this review. Recent literature has highlighted the increasingly prominent role of VD deficiency as a unifying factor within the ubiquitous degenerative changes that ultimately progress these conditions discussed, such as metabolic syndrome, brain disease, cardiovascular disease, GI disease, immune dysfunction, musculoskeletal disease, and other age-related disorders. Lastly, the paradox of bacterial survival under lethal oxidative stress conditions is presented to explore the proposed mechanisms of such activity and the consideration of antioxidant therapies in the future.