“…At the cellular level, vitamin D deficiency impairs intracellular calcium kinetics and muscle cell contractility [8,9], mitochondrial metabolism [10,11] and protein synthesis [12,13]. Treatment with vitamin D corrects these impairments [14,30] as well as restoring strength and improving balance in vitamin D deficient humans [16,29,31]. Despite the fact that vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle loss [12,13] and weakness [16,28,29], which may contribute to the significant muscle atrophy, weakness, and widespread disability experienced by patients with ESRD, the current focus of vitamin D treatment for the control of SHPT, as outlined in the current K/DOQI guidelines [5], is on measuring its effects on bone metabolism and tissue calcification.…”