MSGID: 1:317/3 646ee4a1   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    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   
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   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   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Queensland. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   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   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230524182026.htm   
      
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