Kalueff Allan V, Minasyan Anna, Keisala Tiina, Kuuslahti Marianne, Miettinen Susanna, Tuohimaa Pentti
Department of Anatomy, Medical School, University of Tampere, Tampere 33014, Finland.
Neurosci Lett. 2006 Feb 6;394(1):69-73. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2005.10.007. Epub 2005 Oct 25.
Vitamin D is a neuroactive steroid hormone with multiple functions in the brain. Numerous clinical and experimental data link various Vitamin D-related dysfunctions to epilepsy. Here, we study the role of Vitamin D receptors (VDRs) in experimental epilepsy in mice. To examine this problem, we assessed the seizure profiles in VDR knockout mice following a systemic injection of pentylenetetrazole (70 mg/kg). Overall, compared to the wild-type (WT) 129S1 mice (n=10 in each group), the VDR knockout group significantly demonstrated shorter latencies to the onset, higher Racine scores and increased mortality rates. Our findings suggest that VDRs modulate seizure susceptibility in mice, and that the Vitamin D/VDR endocrine system may be involved in the pathogenesis of epilepsy.
