Vitamin C for myelination

What has vitamin C got to do with MS?



Guo YE, Suo N, Cui X, Yuan Q, Xie X. Vitamin C promotes oligodendrocytes generation and remyelination. Glia. 2018. doi: 10.1002/glia.23306. [Epub ahead of print]


Oligodendrocyte-formed myelin sheaths play important roles in the neuronal functions in the central nervous system. In demyelinating diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis, the myelin sheaths are damaged and the remyelinating process is somehow hindered. Restoration of the myelin sheaths requires the differentiation of the oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) into mature oligodendrocytes (OLs). To discover small molecule compounds that might promote the OPC to OL differentiation, a high-throughput screening system is established and L-ascorbyl-2-phosphate (As-2P), a stable form of Vitamin C (Vc), is found to greatly enhance the OPC to OL differentiation. As-2P promotes gradual expression of OL lineage markers, including O4, CNPase and MBP, in a dose- and time-dependent manner. It also facilitates the formation of myelin sheaths in OPC-neuron co-culture. As-2P also promotes the repair of the myelin sheaths in vivo and provides significant therapeutic effect in a cuprizone-mediated demyelination animal model. Interestingly, As-2P's function in promoting OPC differentiation is not related to its anti-oxidant activity. And an intracellular rather than an extracellular mechanism might be involved. Considering the safe use of Vc as a dietary supplement for many years, it might also be used as an alternative medicine for CNS demyelinating diseases.

I am sure many of you are taking adequate vitamin C



So the question is this relevant?  

The dose in vitro is 150 micromolar and consuming the recommended daily dose yields a plasma value of about 20-30 micromolar so nearly 7-8 times less. So the dose in vitro may be meaningless to human dosing and way about the level needed.


As for the dose given to the animals, it was 200mg/kg so that is

a lot, lot more than humans...with 10mg/kg giving optimal vitamin C levels and the RDA at 1mg/kg massively below the human dose.

You don't store vitamin C, so the reality is if you think an orange a day is going to make you remyelinate, think again.

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