The Role of Vitamin D Status in Optic Neuritis - An Update

The optic nerve is commonly targeted in demyelinating disease, providing a model for assessment of antiinflammatory and neuroprotective therapies. Vitamin D is a known ameliorator of inflammatory activity. In-vitro evidence suggests it may also be neuroprotective, an examinable possibility using optic neuritis (ON) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) in which degeneration is seen as early as 6 months. We aim to study the relationship between vitamin D status and neurodegeneration in ON. OCT will be used to study optic nerve retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RFNLT) acutely and 6 months after ON. We hypothesize that vitamin D sufficient patients (25(OH)D > 80 nmol/L) will have relatively less RFNL thinning at 6 months suggestive of axonal preservation.