Skeletal muscle wasting is an important public health problem associated with aging, chronic disease, cancer, kidney dialysis, and HIV/AIDS. 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-D3), the active form of vitamin D, is widely recognized for its regulation of calcium and phosphate homeostasis in relation to bone development and maintenance and for its calcemic effects on target organs, such as intestine, kidney, and parathyroid glands. Emerging evidence has shown that vitamin D administration improves muscle performance and reduces falls in vitamin D-deficient older adults. However, little is known of the underlying mechanism or the role 1,25-D3 plays in promoting myogenic differentiation at the cellular and/or molecular level. In this study, we examined the effect of 1,25-D3 on myoblast cell proliferation, progression, and differentiation into myotubes. C(2)C(12) myoblasts were treated with 1,25-D3 or placebo for 1, 3, 4, 7, and 10 d. Vitamin D receptor expression was analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR, Western blottings and immunofluorescence. Expression of muscle lineage, pro- and antimyogenic, and proliferation markers was assessed by immunocytochemistry, PCR arrays, quantitative RT-PCR, and Western blottings. Addition of 1,25-D3 to C(2)C(12) myoblasts 1) increased expression and nuclear translocation of the vitamin D receptor, 2) decreased cell proliferation, 3) decreased IGF-I expression, and 4) promoted myogenic differentiation by increasing IGF-II and follistatin expression and decreasing the expression of myostatin, the only known negative regulator of muscle mass, without changing growth differentiation factor 11 expression. This study identifies key vitamin D-related molecular pathways for muscle regulation and supports the rationale for vitamin D intervention studies in select muscle disorder conditions.

Vitamin D is mostly recognized for its regulation of calcium homeostasis in relation to the intestine, kidney, and bone. Although clinical studies have linked vitamin D with increased muscle function and strength, little is known of its underlying molecular mechanism. We recently demonstrated that 1,25-D3 exerts a direct pro-myogenic effect on skeletal muscle cells; this has provoked our investigation of 1,25-D’s effect on angiogenesis, a vital process for new capillary development and tissue repair. In this study, we examined the mechanism by which 1,25-D3 modulates key angiogenic growth factors and angiogenic inhibitors. C2C12 myoblasts were incubated with 100 nM 1,25-D3 or placebo for 1, 4 and 10 days. At the end of the respective incubation time, total RNA was isolated for PCR arrays and for qRT-PCR. Total proteins were isolated for western blots and proteome profiler arrays. The addition of 1,25-D3 to C2C12 myoblasts increased VEGFa and FGF-1: two pro-angiogenic growth factors that promote neo-vascularization and tissue regeneration, and decreased FGF-2 and TIMP-3: two myogenic and/or angiogenic inhibitors. Our previous study demonstrated that 1,25-D3 altered IGF-I/II expression, consistent with the observed changes in VEGFa and FGF-2 expression. These results extend our previous findings and demonstrate the modulation of angiogenesis which may be an additional mechanism by which 1,25-D3 promotes myogenesis. This study supports the mechanistic rationale for assessing the administration of vitamin D and/or vitamin D analogues to treat select muscle disorders and may also provide an alternative solution for therapies that directly manipulate VEGF and FGF’s to promote angiogenesis.

Introduction-It has been shown that PDE 5 inhibitors preserve smooth muscle (SM) content and ameliorate the fibrotic degeneration normally seen in the corpora cavernosa after bilateral cavernosal nerve resection (BCNR). However, the downstream mechanisms by which these drugs protect the corpora cavernosa remain poorly understood.

Cardiovascular disease (CV) remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Low levels of vitamin D are associated with high risk of myocardial infarction, even after controlling for factors associated with coronary artery disease. A growing body of evidence suggests that vitamin D plays an important role in CV related signaling pathways. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism by which vitamin D modulates cardiac development. The Wnt signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in tissue development by controlling stem cell renewal, lineage selection and even more importantly heart development. In this study, we examined the role of 1,25-D3 (active form of vitamin D) on cardiomyocyte proliferation, apoptosis, cell phenotype, cell cycle progression and differentiation into cardiomyotubes. We determined that the addition of 1,25-D3 to cardiomyocytes cells: 1) Inhibits cell proliferation without promoting apoptosis; 2) Decreases expression of genes related to the regulation of the cell cycle; 3) Promotes cardiomyotubes formation; 4) Induces the expression of Casein kinase-1-α1, a negative regulator of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway; and 5) Increases the expression of the noncanonical Wnt11, which it has been demonstrated to induce cardiac differentiation during embryonic development in adult cells. In conclusion, we postulate that vitamin D promotes cardiac differentiation through a negative modulation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway and by up-regulating the expression of Wnt11. These results suggest that vitamin D repletion to prevent and/or improve cardiovascular disorders that are linked to abnormal cardiac differentiation, such as post infarction cardiac remodeling, deserve further study.