Vitamin K is a dietary nutrient essential for the normal biosynthesis of factors that are required for blood clotting. It has also been shown to inhibit cell growth. Vitamin K
1 2,3-
epoxide is the inactive metabolite of vitamin K
1. During clotting, vitamin K
1 is converted to this epoxide form and then rapidly reduced back to the vitamin by a microsomal epoxide reductase. This is referred to as the vitamin K epoxide cycle.
1 Certain anticoagulants target clotting factor synthesis by inhibiting the recycling of vitamin K
1 from the inactive epoxide.
1