The study also found that one of the compounds was able to cross the blood-brain barrier in mice, a key challenge in developing treatments for neurological disorders. (Photo- AI generated)For most people, vitamins are nutrients found in everyday foods or bought from pharmacies. But scientists are increasingly exploring them as building blocks for developing advanced medicines.Researchers from the Shibaura Institute of Technology have developed new vitamin K-derived compounds that may help promote neuron formation, according to a report by ScienceDaily.The study was led by Associate Professor Yoshihisa Hirota and Professor Yoshitomo Suhara from the Department of Bioscience and Engineering and was published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.Also Read | Tiny microbes give cheese its taste and could benefit gut health, scientists sayBy combining vitamin K-related molecules with retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A, the researchers developed compounds that showed significantly stronger ability to convert neural stem cells into neurons compared to natural vitamin K in laboratory experiments.The study also found that one of the compounds was able to cross the blood-brain barrier in mice, a key challenge in developing treatments for neurological disorders.Researchers further found that the compound interacted strongly with a receptor called mGluR1, which plays a key role in neuronal communication. The broader significance of this research is that brain science may be gradually shifting from simply managing damage to actively repairing it.Also Read | Rare ‘Blue Moon’ to light up skies this weekend: What it really meansEarlier studies, including research published in Nature in 2022 by Helmholtz Munich, found that vitamin K may act as an inhibitor of ferroptosis, a form of cell death linked to several diseases. Other studies have also identified biological pathways through which vitamin K may help prevent cell death caused by toxic plaques, according to research indexed by the National Library of Medicine in 2019.Story continues below this ad(Written by Paramita Datta, who is an intern with The Indian Express)