QBI Neuroscience Seminar: 'Convergent evidence implicates vitamin D deficiency and voltage-gated calcium channel function in schizophrenia”

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 04 October 2017 - Wednesday, 04 October 2017

Time:

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Professor John McGrath - Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Australia, and Niels Bohr Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark

Title: 'Convergent evidence implicates vitamin D deficiency and voltage-gated calcium channel function in schizophrenia”

Abstract:
Variants in voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) have been linked to risk of schizophrenia, as has prenatal vitamin D deficiency, known to be important in calcium homeostasis. In this talk I will provide a summary of recent research done in collaboration with colleagues at QBI and in Denmark that has investigated a mechanism that links these independent observations. We measured 25 hydroxyvitamin D in neonatal dried blood spots (n = 2602), and found that those in the lowest quintile of 25OHD concentration had a relative risk of schizophrenia of 1.44 (95%CI: 1.12-1.85) compared to the reference quintile. Using molecular, functional imaging and electrophysiological approaches, we demonstrate that the active form of vitamin D (1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D) induces rapid, non-genomic effects on calcium regulation in developing cortical neurons and brain.
These include increased surface expression of L-type VGCCs in primary cortical neurons, and rapid-onset enhanced calcium influx in a subset of prefrontal cortex cortical neurons. Our findings provide convergent evidence that these epidemiological and genetic risk factors may operate via shared biological pathways.