Reproduction, vitamin

In 1922, Evans and Bishop named the animal nutritional factor essential of reproduction Vitamin E . In the 1960s, vitamin E was associated with antioxidant function. Twenty-five years later, vitamin E has been found to possess functions that are independent of its antioxidant and free radical scavenging ability. a-Tocopherol specific molecular mechanisms were discovered which are still under investigation. 

Interaction of vitamin D and its metaboUtes with sex hormones has been demonstrated, particularly ia birds ia which the egg-laying functions combine calcium needs and reproductive activity. The metaboUtes of vitamin D behave as hormones. As such, they play an active role ia the endocrine system, along with other hormones, to maintain the various body functions. Several biological influences of metaboUtes of vitamin D have been studied, including effects related to cancer (193—197), skin diseases (198—201), immunomodulatory effects (202,203), and Alzheimer s disease (204—206) (Fig. 9). 

The symptoms of vitamin E deficiency in animals are numerous and vary from species to species (13). Although the deficiency of the vitamin can affect different tissue types such as reproductive, gastrointestinal, vascular, neural, hepatic, and optic in a variety of species such as pigs, rats, mice, dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys, monkeys, and sheep, it is generally found that necrotizing myopathy is relatively common to most species. In humans, vitamin E deficiency can result from poor fat absorption in adults and children. Infants, especially those with low birth weights, typically have a vitamin E deficiency which can easily be corrected by supplements. This deficiency can lead to symptoms such as hemolytic anemia, reduction in red blood cell lifetimes, retinopathy, and neuromuscular disorders. 

In a study of the effect of nutrition on reproduction in the rat in the 1920s, Herbert Evans and Katherine Bishop found that rats failed to reproduce on a diet of rancid lard, unless lettuce or whole wheat was added to the diet. The essential factor was traced to a vitamin in the wheat germ oil. Named vitamin E by Evans (using the next available letter following on the discovery of vita-... 

Vitamin A (retinol) and its naturally occurring and synthetic derivatives, collectively referred to as retinoids (chemical structure), exert a wide variety of profound effects in apoptosis, embryogenesis, reproduction, vision, and regulation of inflammation, growth, and differentiation of normal and neoplastic cells in vertebrates. 

Vitamin B12 is essential to growth, cell reproduction, the manufacture of myelin (which surrounds some nerve fibers), and blood cell manufacture. The intrinsic factor, which is produced by cells in the stomach, is necessary for the absorption of vitamin B12 in the intestine A deficiency of the intrinsic factor results in abnormal formation of erythrocytes because of the body s failure to absorb vitamin B12, a necessary component for blood cell formation. The resulting anemia is a type of megaloblastic anemia called pernicious anemia. 

Rats fed a purified nonlipid diet containing vitamins A and D exhibit a reduced growth rate and reproductive deficiency which may be cured by the addition of linoleic, a-linolenic, and arachidonic acids to the diet. These fatty acids are found in high concentrations in vegetable oils (Table 14-2) and in small amounts in animal carcasses. These essential fatty acids are required for prostaglandin, thromboxane, leukotriene, and lipoxin formation (see below), and they also have various other functions which are less well defined. Essential fatty acids are found in the stmctural lipids of the cell, often in the 2 position of phospholipids, and are concerned with the structural integrity of the mitochondrial membrane. 

Vitamin A deficiency affects more than 100 million children around the world (Miller and others 2002) and thus remains an important public health problem in many countries. Vitamin A is essential for vision, reproduction, growth, immune function, and general health of humans (van Lieshout and others 2001). The major sources of vitamin A in the human diet are retinyl esters (preformed vitamin A) found in foods of animal origin and provitamin A carotenoids from fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, foods containing preformed vitamin A (meat, milk, eggs, etc.) are frequently too expensive for some economically deprived developing countries, and therefore dietary carotenoids are the main source of vitamin A in these countries. 

Clagett-Dame M and DeLuca HF. 2002. The role of vitamin A in mammalian reproduction and embryonic development. Annu Rev Nutr 22 347—381. 

The balance between excess and insufficient zinc is important. Zinc deficiency occurs in many species of plants and animals, with severe adverse effects on all stages of growth, development, reproduction, and survival. In humans, zinc deficiency is associated with delayed sexual maturation in adolescent males poor growth in children impaired growth of hair, skin, and bones disrupted Vitamin A metabolism and abnormal taste acuity, hormone metabolism, and immune function. Severe zinc deficiency effects in mammals are usually prevented by diets containing >30 mg Zn/kg DW ration. Zinc deficiency effects are reported in aquatic organisms at nominal concentrations between 0.65 and 6.5 pg Zn/L of medium, and in piscine diets at <15 mg Zn/kg FW ration. Avian diets should contain >25 mg Zn/kg DW ration for prevention of zinc deficiency effects, and <178 mg Zn/kg DW for prevention of marginal sublethal effects. 

Co deficit Everywhere Low content of Co in Podsoluvisols, Podzols, Arenosols and Histosols. The average Co content in plant species is < 5 ppb The decrease of Co content in tissues decrease of vitamin BJ2 in liver (tr.—130 ppm), in tissue (tr.—0.05 ppm), in milk (tr.—3 ppm). Synthesis of vitamin Bi2 and protein is weakened. Cobalt-deficiency and Bj2 vitamin-deficiency. The number of animal diseases is decreasing in raw sheep —cattle — pigs and horses. Low meat and wool productivity and reproduction... 

The vitamin A needs of the body are by no means centered in any one organ or tissue. It is necessary for vision, for tooth and bone development, for maintenance of healthy epithelial tissue in the skin and in many organs, for reproduction, etc. It is to be expected that deficiency would be exhibited in many ways and that in different individuals the symptoms would not be the same. The benefits of vitamin A administration may thus appear very different in different individuals, and this helps to explain why many kinds of benefits (part of which are probably real) have been ascribed (by physicians as well as others) to vitamin A administration. A substance with such diverse functions is bound to show different effects in different individuals, and, of course, for some individuals who have low requirements and get plenty in their food, its administration will appear to be wholly without effect. Otto Bessey, in discussing the problem of nutrition, has used vitamin A as an illustration of how widely different levels are needed to maintain different functions in experi-... 

Of 50 adult rats used in a reproductive/developmental study, 22% of those that received 6 mg/kg/day heptachlor in the diet developed lens cataracts 4.5-9.5 months following exposure. In addition, 6-8% of the pi offspring and 6% of the p2 offspring of these rats also developed cataracts 19-21 days after birth (Mestitzova 1967). The author of this study eliminated the possibility of a vitamin B deficiency or a recessive genetic trait as the cause of the cataracts. She could not rule out the possibility of altered vitamin B metabolism caused by heptachlor. 

Vitamin A has a rich associated human physiology. It is associated with vision, regulation of gene expression, reproduction, embryo development, and immune function. We cannot manage all of this but let s get started with vision. 

The family of related compounds known as vitamin A is essential for vision and is an important regulator of gene expression, reproduction, and immune function. 

Vitamin E, a natural antioxidant, is essential for growth, disease prevention, tissue integrity and reproduction in all fauna. Natural vitamin E, as it occurs in plants, consists mainly of a-tocopherol (III, R = H) with minor amounts of y-tocopherol (IV), although this ratio can vary as for example in the vegetable oil composition shown in Fig. 5a. In animal husbandry, such as dairy farms or cattle feed lots, the stock diets are commonly supplemented with vitamin E, because processed grain-based cereal fodder, hay, and silage are deficient in vitamin This results in higher levels of a-tocopherol... 

Nitrous oxide exerts a variety of its adverse effects by oxidizing vitamin Bn and rendering it inactive as a coenzyme in many essential metabolic processes. One vitamin dependent enzyme in particular, methionine synthetase, is involved in cell division and is necessary for DNA production. Adverse reproductive and hematologic effects caused by nitrous oxide are thought to be due to inactivation or dysfunction of methionine synthetase resulting in impairment of cell division. 

Pharmacology Vitamin B-12 is essential to growth, cell reproduction, hematopoiesis, nucleic acid, and myelin synthesis. Sources of vitamin B 2 include liver, meat, fish,... 

The activity of vitamin A is related to vision process, tissue differentiation, growth, reproduction, and the immune system. A deficiency of this micronutrient mainly leads to visual problems, impaired immune function, and growth retardation in children. Hypervitaminosis could lead to hepatotoxicity, affect bone metabolism, disrupt lipid metabolism, and teratogenicity [417]. The isomerization of P-carotene, due to technological processes in foods, leads to a reduction of the vitamin A activity it is therefore important to analyze it. 

Vitamin A is essential for proper functioning of the retina, for the integrity of epithelial tissue, for growth and bone development and for reproduction. For vision the active vitamin appears to be retinal as the chromophore of both rods and cones is 11-cis-retinal which, in combination with the protein opsin, forms the photoreceptor rhodopsin. Retinoic acid is the active form associated with growth, differentiation, and transformation. Both all-trans and 9-cis retinoic acid act as a steroid hormone to affect cellular differentiation, especially for morphogenesis, reproduction and for immune responses. At... 

Panda N, Kaur H, Mohanty TK. Reproductive performance of dairy buffaloes supplemented with varying levels of vitamin E. Asian Australasian Journal of /Animal Sciences. 2006 19(1) 19-25. 

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