Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Firenze, 50134 Firenze,
Nutrients. 2013 Jun 7;5(6):2076-92. doi: 10.3390/nu5062076.
Cardiovascular diseases are more prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease than in the general population and they are considered the leading cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease. The discovery that vitamin D3 plays a considerable role in cardiovascular protection has led, in recent years, to an increase in the administration of therapies based on the use of this molecule; nevertheless, several studies warned that an excess of vitamin D3 may increase the risk of hypercalcemia and vascular calcifications. In this study we evaluated the effects of vitamin D3, and of its selective analog paricalcitol, on immature cardiomyocytes. Results show that vitamin D3 induces cAMP-mediated cell proliferation and significant intracellular calcification. Paricalcitol, however, induces cell differentiation, morphological modifications in cell shape and size, and no intracellular calcification. Furthermore, vitamin D3 and paricalcitol differently affect cardiomyoblasts responses to acetylcholine treatment. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the effects of vitamin D3 and paricalcitol on cardiomyoblasts are different and, if these in vitro observations could be extrapolated in vivo, they suggest that paricalcitol has the potential for cardiovascular protection without the risk of inducing intracellular calcification.
心血管疾病在慢性肾脏病患者中比在普通人群中更为普遍，并且被认为是终末期肾病患者死亡的主要原因。近年来，发现维生素 D3 在心血管保护中起着相当大的作用，这导致了基于使用这种分子的治疗方法的增加；然而，几项研究警告说，维生素 D3 过量可能会增加高钙血症和血管钙化的风险。在这项研究中，我们评估了维生素 D3 及其选择性类似物帕立骨化醇对未成熟心肌细胞的影响。结果表明，维生素 D3 诱导 cAMP 介导的细胞增殖和显著的细胞内钙化。然而，帕立骨化醇诱导细胞分化、细胞形状和大小的形态改变，并且没有细胞内钙化。此外，维生素 D3 和帕立骨化醇对心肌细胞对乙酰胆碱处理的反应有不同的影响。总之，我们的结果表明，维生素 D3 和帕立骨化醇对心肌细胞的作用是不同的，如果这些体外观察可以推断到体内，它们表明帕立骨化醇具有心血管保护的潜力，而不会有诱导细胞内钙化的风险。
