Vitamin D3 Reduction in Individuals Exposed to Sulfur Mustard

Background: Inflammatory responses in individuals exposed to sulfur mustard occur in some organs such as lung, skin and eyes. These organs manifest overreaction in cellular and humoral immune responses. Over a long period, the immune responses often continues toward chronic inflammatory processes with some interventions. Obviously some elements have been deregulated. Therefore, this study evaluated Vitamin D3 levels as a modulatory agent that could first regulate inflammatory interactions, then switch to suppress inflammatory mechanisms. Several studies showed that Vitamin D3 plays an undeniable role in suppressing inflammatory responses. In addition, some studies showed that calcium and phosphorus could play some role in inflammatory responses, too. Also, levels of serum calcium and phosphorus are associated with serum Vitamin D3 level, because it promotes absorption and reabsorption of calcium and phosphorus in intestine and kidney. Materials and Methods: Levels of vitamin D3, calcium and phosphorus were measured by ELISA and spectrophotometric method, respectively. 114 exposed individuals as case group and 79 unexposed as control group were evaluated. Results: The results showed that the level of serum Vitamin D3 is low in individuals exposed to sulfur mustard (PConclusion: According to our findings, chronic inflammation has correlation with status of serum Vitamin D3 deficiency in individuals exposed to sulfur mustard.