Upconversion Nanodevice-Assisted Healthy Molecular Photocorrection

Mushrooms are rich in ergosterol, a precursor of ergocalciferol, which is a type of vitamin D-2. The conversion of ergosterol to ergocalciferol takes place in the presence of UV radiation by the cleavage of the B-ring in the ergosterol. As the UV radiation cannot penetrate deep into the tissue, only minimal increase occurs in sunlight. In this study, upconversion nanoparticles with the property to convert deep-penetrating near-infrared radiation to UV radiation have been cast into a disk to use sunlight and emit UV radiation for vitamin D conversion. An engineered upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) disk with maximum particles and limited clusters demonstrates similar to 2.5 times enhanced vitamin D-2 conversion.

Automated summary

The study utilized a disk containing upconversion nanoparticles to convert near-infrared radiation into UV radiation, resulting in enhanced conversion of vitamin D-2 by approximately 2.5 times.