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Samantha Velasquez Rivertte
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Undergraduate Research in the Neighborhoods
Hypovitaminosis D is highly prevalent in pregnant women and infants worldwide. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) serves as an indicator of vitamin D status in most animal species. The recent identification of its C-3 epimer, 3-epi-25 hydroxyvitamin D3 (3-epi-25(OH)D3), in blood serum has been reported for both pregnant women and infants; however, because pf its recent discovery it has yet to be fully elucidated. Given its prevalence in pregnant women, it was hypothesized that 3-epi-25(OH)D3 may serve as a predictive biomarker of pregnancy in dairy cattle. In Samantha’s study, she validated an LC-MS/MS method to measure the mono-hydrovitamin D metabolites 25-hydrovitamin D2 (25(OH)D2), 25-hydrovitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), and 3-epi-25(OH)D3, in bovine serum and then analyzed serum collected from dairy cows at six stages of pregnancy. While not predictive of pregnancy during the early phases of gestation, the elevation of 3-epi-25(OH)D3 is consistent and appears to mimic previous observations with mid-to-late gestational increases in estrogen concentration found in dairy cattle. Samantha’s study confirms that the epimerization of 25(OH)D3 is conserved in pregnant dairy cattle.
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