THE ROLE OF VITAMIN D IN ASSISTED REPRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

Vitamin D or calcitriol, which was first identified back in 1920, has a key role in bone metabolism and mineralization, and in calcium and magnesium homeostasis. A nuclear receptor (VDR) mediates vitamin D actions in a lot of organs like bowel, bone, kidney, breast, gonads, pancreas, brain, cardiovascular and immune systems. In all these tissues the 1,25(OH)(2)D play a fundamental role in reduction of chronic pathologies, in modulation of cellular growth, neuromuscular, immune and inflammation actions. Vitamin D is important in reproduction physiology and in development gynecological and obstetric disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, myomatosis, gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. Over the last few years, vitamin D has been suggested to have a role in assisted reproduction techniques.