Neuroprotective Effects of Choline and Other Methyl Donors

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that physical and mental health are influenced by an intricate interaction between genes and environment. Environmental factors have been shown to modulate neuronal gene expression and function by epigenetic mechanisms. Exposure to these factors including nutrients during sensitive periods of life could program brain development and have long-lasting effects on mental health. Studies have shown that early nutritional intervention that includes methyl-donors improves cognitive functions throughout life. Choline is a micronutrient and a methyl donor that is required for normal brain growth and development. It plays a pivotal role in maintaining structural and functional integrity of cellular membranes. It also regulates cholinergic signaling in the brain via the synthesis of acetylcholine. Via its metabolites, it participates in pathways that regulate methylation of genes related to memory and cognitive functions at different stages of development. Choline-related functions have been dysregulated in some neurodegenerative diseases suggesting choline role in influencing mental health across the lifespan.

Related collections

Most cited references 100

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Clinical epigenetics: seizing opportunities for translation

María Berdasco, Manel Esteller (2018)

Biomarker discovery and validation are necessary for improving the prediction of clinical outcomes and patient monitoring. Despite considerable interest in biomarker discovery and development, improvements in the range and quality of biomarkers are still needed. The main challenge is how to integrate preclinical data to obtain a reliable biomarker that can be measured with acceptable costs in routine clinical practice. Epigenetic alterations are already being incorporated as valuable candidates in the biomarker field. Furthermore, their reversible nature offers a promising opportunity to ameliorate disease symptoms by using epigenetic-based therapy. Thus, beyond helping to understand disease biology, clinical epigenetics is being incorporated into patient management in oncology, as well as being explored for clinical applicability for other human pathologies such as neurological and infectious diseases and immune system disorders.

0 comments Cited 225 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Vitamin B12 , folate, and the methionine remethylation cycle-biochemistry, pathways, and regulation

D. Sean Froese, Brian Fowler, Matthias R. Baumgartner (2019)

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin, Cbl) is a nutrient essential to human health. Due to its complex structure and dual cofactor forms, Cbl undergoes a complicated series of absorptive and processing steps before serving as cofactor for the enzymes methylmalonyl-CoA mutase and methionine synthase. Methylmalonyl-CoA mutase is required for the catabolism of certain (branched-chain) amino acids into an anaplerotic substrate in the mitochondrion, and dysfunction of the enzyme itself or in production of its cofactor adenosyl-Cbl result in an inability to successfully undergo protein catabolism with concomitant mitochondrial energy disruption. Methionine synthase catalyzes the methyl-Cbl dependent (re)methylation of homocysteine to methionine within the methionine cycle; a reaction required to produce this essential amino acid and generate S-adenosylmethionine, the most important cellular methyl-donor. Disruption of methionine synthase has wide-ranging implications for all methylation-dependent reactions, including epigenetic modification, but also for the intracellular folate pathway, since methionine synthase uses 5-methyltetrahydrofolate as a one-carbon donor. Folate-bound one-carbon units are also required for deoxythymidine monophosphate and de novo purine synthesis; therefore, the flow of single carbon units to each of these pathways must be regulated based on cellular needs. This review provides an overview on Cbl metabolism with a brief description of absorption and intracellular metabolic pathways. It also provides a description of folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism and its intersection with Cbl at the methionine cycle. Finally, a summary of recent advances in understanding of how both pathways are regulated is presented.

0 comments Cited 118 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Dietary Choline Intake: Current State of Knowledge Across the Life Cycle

Alejandra Wiedeman, Susan Barr, Timothy Green … (2018)

Choline, an essential dietary nutrient for humans, is required for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, the methyl group donor, betaine, and phospholipids; and therefore, choline is involved in a broad range of critical physiological functions across all stages of the life cycle. The current dietary recommendations for choline have been established as Adequate Intakes (AIs) for total choline; however, dietary choline is present in multiple different forms that are both water-soluble (e.g., free choline, phosphocholine, and glycerophosphocholine) and lipid-soluble (e.g., phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin). Interestingly, the different dietary choline forms consumed during infancy differ from those in adulthood. This can be explained by the primary food source, where the majority of choline present in human milk is in the water-soluble form, versus lipid-soluble forms for foods consumed later on. This review summarizes the current knowledge on dietary recommendations and assessment methods, and dietary choline intake from food sources across the life cycle.

0 comments Cited 114 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Nutrients

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Nutrients

Journal ID (publisher-id): nutrients

Title: Nutrients

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 2072-6643

Publication date (Electronic): 06 December 2019

Publication date Collection: December 2019

Volume: 11

Issue: 12

Electronic Location Identifier: 2995

Affiliations

Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; rbekdash@ 123456newark.rutgers.edu

Article

Publisher ID: nutrients-11-02995

DOI: 10.3390/nu11122995

PMC ID: 6950346

PubMed ID: 31817768

SO-VID: c1ddf575-6bab-42f9-b200-5da07734ecb1

License:

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

History

Date received : 06 November 2019

Date accepted : 05 December 2019

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Smart Citations

Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting

View Citations

See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.

Cited by 34

See all cited by

Most referenced authors 846

See all reference authors

Neuroprotective Effects of Choline and Other Methyl Donors

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Karger: Nutrition and Dietetics

Most cited references 100

Clinical epigenetics: seizing opportunities for translation

Vitamin B12 , folate, and the methionine remethylation cycle-biochemistry, pathways, and regulation

Dietary Choline Intake: Current State of Knowledge Across the Life Cycle

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 550

Cited by 34

Most referenced authors 846