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Light, vitamin D and psychiatry

Role of 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 (soltriol) in etiology and therapy of seasonal affective disorder and other mental processes

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Abstract

This is a review and a prospectus of effects of vitamin D on the brain. Effects of sunlight and equivalent artificial light on physiological and behavioral processes are probably mediated, in large part, through the skin-vitamin D-endocrine system. Experimental evidence from our laboratory reveals sites of action and concomitant direct effects of 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 (soltriol) on brain, spinal cord, pituitary and other endocrine tissues. This appears relevant for the activation and modulation of mental and endocrine processes, particularly related to seasonal and daily biorhythms. Effects of sunlight and corresponding artificial light are likely to be mediated through direct actions of soltriol on brain and endocrine tissues that are independent of its effect on calcium levels. Those direct actions are receptor mediated and appear to be dose related as they depend on intensity of light and length of exposure, considering light (photons) as a drug. A role for soltriol, the steroid hormone of sunlight, in the etiology and helioor phototherapy of affective disorders with cyclic seasonal onset (seasonal affective disorder) is discussed and the significance of research in the new frontier of vitamin D and brain relationships is noted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of North Carolina, 27599, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Walter E. Stumpf & Thomas H. Privette

  2. Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina, 27599, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Walter E. Stumpf & Thomas H. Privette

  3. Biological Sciences Research Center, University of North Carolina, 27599, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Walter E. Stumpf & Thomas H. Privette

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  1. Walter E. Stumpf
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The term “soltriol” is used for the “steroid hormone of sunlight”, 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3, in correspondence to other steroid hormones, such as “estradiol” and “cortisol”. “Vitamin D” is a misnomer, related to its historic discovery as an ingestible vital extract, before being recognized as a steroid hormone

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Stumpf, W.E., Privette, T.H. Light, vitamin D and psychiatry. Psychopharmacology 97, 285–294 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00439440

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