1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D modulates L-type voltage-gated calcium channels in a subset of neurons in the developing mouse prefrontal cortex

Transl Psychiatry. 2019 Nov 11;9(1):281. doi: 10.1038/s41398-019-0626-z.

Abstract

Schizophrenia has been associated with a range of genetic and environmental risk factors. Here we explored a link between two risk factors that converge on a shared neurobiological pathway. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified risk variants in genes that code for L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (L-VGCCs), while epidemiological studies have found an increased risk of schizophrenia in those with neonatal vitamin D deficiency. The active form of vitamin D (1,25(OH)2D) is a secosteroid that rapidly modulates L-VGCCs via non-genomic mechanisms in a range of peripheral tissues, though its non-genomic effects within the brain remain largely unexplored. Here we used calcium imaging, electrophysiology and molecular biology to determine whether 1,25(OH)2D non-genomically modulated L-VGCCs in the developing prefrontal cortex, a region widely implicated in schizophrenia pathophysiology. Wide-field Ca2+ imaging revealed that physiological concentrations of 1,25(OH)2D rapidly enhanced activity-dependent somatic Ca2+ levels in a small subset of neurons in the developing PFC, termed vitamin D-responsive neurons (VDRNs). Somatic nucleated patch recordings revealed a rapid, 1,25(OH)2D-evoked increase in high-voltage-activated (HVA) Ca2+ currents. Enhanced activity-dependent Ca2+ levels were mediated by L-VGCC but not associated with any changes to Cacna1c (L-VGCC pore-forming subunit) mRNA expression. Since L-VGCC activity is critical to healthy neurodevelopment, these data suggest that suboptimal concentrations of 1,25(OH)2D could alter brain maturation through modulation of L-VGCC signalling and as such may provide a parsimonious link between epidemiologic and genetic risk factors for schizophrenia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Calcium Channels, L-Type / physiology*
  • Calcium Signaling*
  • Female
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Neurogenesis / physiology*
  • Neurons / physiology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / growth & development*
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
  • Vitamin D / analogs & derivatives*
  • Vitamin D / physiology

Substances

  • Calcium Channels, L-Type
  • Vitamin D
  • 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D