Vitamin B6 boosts mental health and improves memory and learning, a new study suggested.
According to Neuroscience News, a research team from Würzburg University Medicine found a novel way to increase Vitamin B6 levels in cells.
The study published in the scientific journal found a natural substance, 7, 8-dihydroxyflavone, that prevents the pyridoxal phosphates enzyme and enhances vitamin B6 in nerves.
7,8-Dihyroxyflavone is a molecule that improves learning and memory processes in disease models for mental disorders.
Researchers also suggested that preventing the intracellular degradation of the vitamin is better than trying to increase the B6 levels.
Antje Gohla, Professor of Biochemical Pharmacology at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) and lead researcher of the study, said, “We were already able to show in earlier studies that genetically switching off the vitamin B6-degrading enzyme pyridoxal phosphatase in mice improves the animals’ spatial learning and memory capacity.”
The pharmacologist explains, “In our experiments, we (successfully) identified a natural substance that can inhibit pyridoxal phosphatase and thus slow down the degradation of vitamin B6.”
Additionally, vitamin B6 is important in the protection of several mental illnesses, including depressive mood, impaired memory, and learning abilities.
