Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a variety of age-related diseases and is becoming increasingly more prevalent in the population over time. Some diseases associated with deficiency are cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegeneration. This association, as well as the fact that vitamin D has been demonstrated to play an important role in a variety of extraskeletal processes, has led some to claim that vitamin D is an essential longevity vitamin. However, the role of vitamin D in healthy aging has been difficult to determine. In order to study vitamin D in the context of aging, the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), was employed. To study vitamin D’s impact on aging and age-related disease, lifespan and health span were measured across three different genetic strains of C. elegans. Strains investigated were wildtype (N2), worms with a mutant vitamin D receptor ortholog (nhr-8), and worms engineered to represent Alzheimer disease (gnals2). Bioinformatic analysis of available public data was also performed in order to identify the transcriptional response produced in N2 worms treated with vitamin D₃. Treatment with vitamin D₃ significantly extended the lifespan of N2 worms and rescued nhr-8 worms, which typically have decreased lifespans compared to N2. Treatment with vitamin D₃ minimally extended the lifespan of gnals2 worms. Similar results were obtained for measures of health span, quantified as motility through time. Differentially expressed genes upon treatment with vitamin D₃ were largely associated with biological processes such as the innate immune response and metabolism of xenobiotic compounds in the worms, which may explain the observed increase in lifespan and health span.

维生素 D 缺乏症与多种与年龄有关的疾病有关，并且随着时间的推移在人群中变得越来越普遍。一些与缺乏有关的疾病是心血管疾病、癌症和神经退行性变。这种关联，以及维生素 D 已被证明在各种骨骼外过程中发挥重要作用的事实，导致一些人声称维生素 D 是一种必需的长寿维生素。然而，维生素 D 在健康老龄化中的作用一直难以确定。为了研究衰老背景下的维生素 D，模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫( C. elegans）， 被雇佣。为了研究维生素 D 对衰老和年龄相关疾病的影响，我们测量了三种不同的秀丽隐杆线虫遗传菌株的寿命和健康跨度。研究的菌株是野生型 (N2)、具有突变维生素 D 受体直系同源物的蠕虫 ( nhr-8 ) 和经过改造以代表阿尔茨海默病的蠕虫 ( gnals2 )。还对可用公共数据进行了生物信息学分析，以确定在用维生素 D ₃处理的 N2 蠕虫中产生的转录反应。用维生素 D ₃处理可显着延长 N2 蠕虫的寿命并拯救nhr-8蠕虫，与 N2 相比，它们的寿命通常会缩短。用维生素 D _3治疗最低限度地延长了gnals2蠕虫的寿命。健康跨度的测量获得了类似的结果，量化为随时间变化的运动性。用维生素 D ₃处理后差异表达的基因主要与生物过程相关，例如先天免疫反应和蠕虫中异生化合物的代谢，这可以解释观察到的寿命和健康跨度的增加。