The Vitamin A Laboratory (VitAL) research program: fundamental insight into vitamin A metabolism

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Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient, required to maintain good health in humans and other animals. Since its discovery over 100 years ago, much has been learned about vitamin A biology; however, there remain fundamental gaps in our knowledge concerning its metabolism and function. Vitamin A is required to fulfill some of the body's most basic functions, with critical roles in vision, immunity and reproduction. The necessity of adequate vitamin A intake is highlighted in the developing world, where its deficiency is associated with high infant mortality and childhood blindness. Although vitamin A deficiency is not a major issue in Canada, the contribution of impaired vitamin A function to certain cancers, birth defects and metabolic diseases, underscores its importance. With this in mind, the overall goal of the Vitamin A Laboratory's (VitAL) research program is to improve our understanding of basic vitamin A biology.Our research program focuses on providing a better understanding of how the body processes and uses vitamin A. We are particularly interested in the liver, because this organ serves as the body's vitamin A warehouse and distribution center. Specifically, the liver contains the largest store of vitamin A in the body, and secretes it at a steady rate to supply the rest of the body. Based on our preliminary data, we have identified a previously unrecognized role for the fatty acid transporter CD36 in vitamin A metabolism. The proposed work involves studying CD36 at the whole organism, cellular, and molecular level, and tests the central hypothesis that CD36 is a novel contributor to hepatic vitamin A metabolism. Methodologically, this work will involve studying Cd36 knockout mice, inhibiting CD36 function in isolated liver cells, and assaying vitamin A-CD36 interactions at the molecular level.Improving our basic understanding of vitamin A metabolism is fundamentally important. The novel work described in this proposal will lead to the identification of CD36 as a hitherto unrecognized contributor to vitamin A biology, representing an important discovery in the field. This new knowledge will be relevant to those interested in the life sciences, including nutritionists, physiologists and biochemists. In the Canadian context, this country has a global reputation in providing vitamin A supplements to the developing world. Dubbed “Canada's vitamin A success story”, vitamin A supplements provided through the Micronutrient Initiative, and funded by the Canadian government, have helped save millions of children's lives. By establishing an internationally recognized program of excellence into studying vitamin A biology, our work will further bolster Canada's reputation and impact, providing a basic scientific program to complement the established excellence in the country's global health efforts.