{"title":"New Perspectives for the Nutritional Value of Vitamin K in Human Health","authors":"C. Viegas, D. Simes","doi":"10.4172/2161-0509.1000192","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Vitamin K is an essential micronutrient in the post-translational modification of specific glutamic acid residues (Glu) into γ-carboxyglutamic acid residues (Gla) in target proteins known as vitamin K-dependent proteins (VKDPs). In healthy conditions of sufficient vitamin K status, a vitamin K recycling system maintains sufficient vitamin K levels for proper γ-carboxylation of VKDPs, and vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) widely used as anticoagulants inhibit vitamin K recycling. Besides its well-known function in the maintenance of normal coagulation, vitamin K has been reported to have other diverse physiological functions with impact in human health. In extra-hepatic tissues vitamin K deficiency results in impairment of VKDPs γ-carboxylation with important implications in bone and cardiovascular health. Although most of vitamin K effects have been associated with regulation of mineralization in connective tissues through the action of matrix Gla protein (MGP) and osteocalcin (OC), the discovery of Gla-rich protein (GRP) open new perspectives on the potential therapeutic range of vitamin K.","PeriodicalId":90227,"journal":{"name":"Journal of nutritional disorders & therapy","volume":"6 1","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2016-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4172/2161-0509.1000192","citationCount":"6","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of nutritional disorders & therapy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4172/2161-0509.1000192","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 6
Abstract
Vitamin K is an essential micronutrient in the post-translational modification of specific glutamic acid residues (Glu) into γ-carboxyglutamic acid residues (Gla) in target proteins known as vitamin K-dependent proteins (VKDPs). In healthy conditions of sufficient vitamin K status, a vitamin K recycling system maintains sufficient vitamin K levels for proper γ-carboxylation of VKDPs, and vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) widely used as anticoagulants inhibit vitamin K recycling. Besides its well-known function in the maintenance of normal coagulation, vitamin K has been reported to have other diverse physiological functions with impact in human health. In extra-hepatic tissues vitamin K deficiency results in impairment of VKDPs γ-carboxylation with important implications in bone and cardiovascular health. Although most of vitamin K effects have been associated with regulation of mineralization in connective tissues through the action of matrix Gla protein (MGP) and osteocalcin (OC), the discovery of Gla-rich protein (GRP) open new perspectives on the potential therapeutic range of vitamin K.