Share on Pinterest A new study examines how vitamin B12 can speed tissue repair, and why it matters. Image credit: Berena Alvarez/Stocksy.
- Tissue regeneration is the process of reconstructing damaged tissues and organs in the body to heal or replace them.
- The field of regenerative medicine is still new and researchers are exploring how to use tissue regeneration for certain diseases.
- Researchers from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain discovered that vitamin B12 plays an important role in tissue regeneration.
- Scientists also reported that vitamin B12 supplementation accelerated tissue repair in a model of ulcerative colitis.
Tissue regeneration - also called regenerative medicine - is the process of reconstructing damaged tissues and organs in the body to heal or replace them.
These tissues and organs may be injured by aging, trauma, disease, or birth defects.
The field of regenerative medicine is still new and experimental. Researchers looking at ways to use tissue regeneration in the treatment of diseases such as heart injuries and illnesses, bone fractures, cartilage diseases, pancreatitisAnd inflammatory bowel disease.
Now researchers from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain report evidence suggesting that vitamin B12 plays an important role in cellular reprogramming and tissue regeneration.
The findings were recently published in the journal Nature metabolism.
Scientists tested their theory in a model of ulcerative colitis - a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - showing that intestinal cells trying to repair themselves would benefit from vitamin B12 supplementation.
According to Dr. Manuel Serrano, a researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain during the time of the study - who recently moved to Altos Labs in the UK - and co-lead author of this study, they decided to study the impact of vitamin B12 on cellular reprogramming and tissue regeneration following an unexpected finding when they analyzed how colonic microbial populations change during reprogramming.
"The mammalian microbiota is in balance with the host," explained Dr. Serrano out Medical news today. "If the host's metabolism changes, it affects the microbiota and vice versa. We found that during reprogramming in mice, the microbiota showed changes indicative of a deficiency [vitamin] B12. [Vitamin] B12 is essential for mammals and also for bacteria."Previous research has shown that vitamin B12 helps the body with recovery, such as stimulating neurological tissues necessary for this repairing muscles or after nerves are damaged, such as by traumatic brain damage.
Vitamin B12 has also been shown to play a protective role bone health.
And a study published in August 2022 found that vitamin B12 can help repair and regenerate skin damaged by radiodermatitis a side effect of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer.
Using both mouse and cultured cell models, the researchers found that vitamin B12 supplementation increased the efficiency of cell reprogramming, which is considered an early stage of tissue repair.
Dr. Marta Kovatcheva, researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain and co-lead author of this study, explained to MNT how vitamin B12 helps with cellular reprogramming and tissue regeneration.
"[Vitamin] B12 is involved in only two metabolic reactions in mammals - including mice and humans - and one of these reactions is critical for [producing)] a chemical tag, more technically 'a methyl donor '," she told us. "This chemical group is used to 'tag' many regulatory proteins of the DNA and the DNA itself, thereby altering the activity of the DNA - 'reprogramming' the DNA."
"This tagging is very complex and dynamic and, although not yet fully understood, is critical for determining the behavior of cells, including their ability to repair or regenerate tissue," explains Dr. Kovatcheva out.
"During critical periods, such as during injury, cells need enormous amounts of the 'methyl tag', and therefore also B12. It's so bad that mice that undergo reprogramming develop a partial B12 deficiency despite a normal, healthy diet. B12 supplementation facilitates reprogramming and tissue repair - it happens faster and more often."
-Dr. Marta Kovatcheva
Drs. Serrano and Kovatcheva also led their team in testing their vitamin B12 theory on a mouse model of ulcerative colitis.
Researchers found that intestinal cells that initiate repair undergo a process similar to cellular reprogramming, and that they could benefit from vitamin B12 supplementation. And they reported that vitamin B12 supplementation accelerated tissue repair in the mouse model of ulcerative colitis.Both scientists believe these findings could open new doors for regenerative medicine.
"B12 supplementation is simple, cheap and safe," said Dr. Serrano. "I would be very curious to see how this affects the recovery of surgical patients, for example."
"There are diseases that can also benefit, such as duodenal ulcers," added Dr. Kovatcheva added. "In theory, any disease that involves an active injury process could benefit from this. But this obviously requires good clinical tests."
Dr. Serrano was also part of it another recently published research on vitamin B12, looking at the vitamin's potential health benefits in reducing inflammation.
"In this study, led by Prof. Rosa Lamuela and Ramon Estruch from the University of Barcelona, we found that increased levels of B12 in the blood of volunteers were associated with lower levels of inflammatory markers," explained Dr. Serrano out.
"These inflammatory markers reflect the existence of persistent injuries and damage that can occur on a very local scale. The association between high B12 and low inflammation is consistent with the idea that high B12 helps the body resolve and repair tissue damage," he added.
After reviewing this study, Dr. Rosario Ligresti, chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and director of the Pancreas Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, and associate professor of medicine at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine: MNT he found the research fascinating.
"A lot is known about how cells repair themselves, but much is also unknown. This research sheds some light on the complex processes involved. When the gastrointestinal tract is injured, the body quickly takes action to repair itself. Part of the recovery process involves the recruitment of stem cells. However, these stem cells must undergo a process called reprogramming so that they can replace the cells that have been lost or injured."
-Dr. Rosario Ligresti
"As highlighted in this article, in the gastrointestinal tract this depends on two functioning systems: the microbiome and adequate levels of vitamin B12," he added. "If either of these two factors is deficient or altered, intestinal tract regeneration is not nearly as effective as it could be."
Dr. Babak Firoozi, a board-certified gastroenterologist at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, agreed, saying this adds to our current knowledge of regenerative medicine.
"Specific to my field, to gastroenterology, because intestinal cells have to regenerate at a very constant level. Every time there is damage, you want to repair that damage in the right way, so you have to have the right tools," explains Dr . Firoozi out. MNT. "And specifically for vitamins, you need the right nutrients to do that effectively and in the best way."
Dr. Firoozi said he would like to see a therapy developed using B12 for ulcerative colitis.
"The problem with ulcerative colitis is that you get a lot of inflammation and very high cell turnover," he added. "And it would be nice to see if you can not only stop that, but also reverse it, so that you eventually get normal tissue again."
According to Dr. Ligresti, vitamin B12 deficiency is found in populations following a largely vegan diet, in the elderly due to malabsorption, and in people with chronic Helicobacter pylori infection.
For those looking to increase their vitamin B12 intake, Dr. Firoozi that they will especially do that find it in meat - including fish and chicken.
However, dairy products and eggs also naturally contain vitamin B12. Vegan and vegetarian B12 sources include fortified plant-based milk, nutritional yeasts, fortified cereals or supplements."Older patients may find that visiting their doctor for a monthly B12 injection is the easiest way to supplement their intake - oral B12 replacement is largely ineffective in older patients," noted Dr. Firoozi also on.
