Vitamin D alters developing neurons in the brain's dopamine circuit


Date:
May 24, 2023
Source:
University of Queensland
Summary:
Neuroscientists have shown how vitamin D deficiency affects
developing neurons in the brain's dopamine circuit, which may lead
to the dopamine dysfunction seen in adults with schizophrenia.


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FULL STORY ========================================================================== Neuroscientists at The University of Queensland have uncovered how
vitamin D deficiency affects developing neurons in schizophrenia, using
new technology.

Professor Darryl Eyles has built on past research out of his laboratory
at the Queensland Brain Institute linking maternal vitamin D deficiency
and brain development disorders, such as schizophrenia, to understand
the functional changes taking place in the brain.

Schizophrenia is associated with many developmental risk factors,
both genetic and environmental. While the precise neurological causes
of the disorder are unknown, what is known is that schizophrenia is
associated with a pronounced change in the way the brain uses dopamine,
the neurotransmitter often referred to as the brain's 'reward molecule'.

Professor Eyles has followed the mechanisms that might relate to abnormal dopamine release and discovered that maternal vitamin D deficiency affects
the early development and later differentiation of dopaminergic neurons.

The team at the Queensland Brain Institute developed dopamine-like cells
to replicate the process of differentiation into early dopaminergic
neurons that usually takes place during embryonic development.

They cultured the neurons both in the presence and absence of the active vitamin D hormone. In three different model systems they showed dopamine neurite outgrowth was markedly increased. They then showed alterations
in the distribution of presynaptic proteins responsible for dopamine
release within these neurites.

"What we found was the altered differentiation process in the presence
of vitamin D not only makes the cells grow differently, but recruits
machinery to release dopamine differently," Professor Eyles said.

Using a new visualisation tool known as false fluorescent
neurotransmitters, the team could then analyse the functional changes
in presynaptic dopamine uptake and release in the presence and absence
of vitamin D.

They showed that dopamine release was enhanced in cells grown in the
presence of the hormone compared to a control.

"This is conclusive evidence that vitamin D affects the structural differentiation of dopaminergic neurons." Leveraging advances in
targeting and visualising single molecules within presynaptic nerve
terminals has enabled Professor Eyles and his team to further explore
their long-standing belief that maternal vitamin D deficiency changes
how early dopaminergic circuits are formed.

The team is now exploring whether other environmental risk factors for schizophrenia such as maternal hypoxia or infection similarly alter the trajectory of dopamine neuron differentiation.

Eyles and his team believe such early alterations to dopamine neuron differentiation and function may be the neurodevelopmental origin of
dopamine dysfunction later in adults who develop schizophrenia.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Vitamin # Nervous_System # Vitamin_D # Vitamin_E
o Mind_&_Brain
# Schizophrenia # Disorders_and_Syndromes # Brain_Injury
# Neuroscience
* RELATED_TERMS
o Dopamine_hypothesis_of_schizophrenia o Dopamine o Rickets
o Multiple_sclerosis o Schizophrenia o Methamphetamine o
Neurotransmitter o Pernicious_anemia

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Queensland. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Renata Aparecida Nedel Pertile, Rachel Brigden, Vanshika Raman,
Xiaoying
Cui, Zilong Du, Darryl Eyles. Vitamin D: A potent regulator of
dopaminergic neuron differentiation and function. Journal of
Neurochemistry, 2023; DOI: 10.1111/jnc.15829 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230524182026.htm

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