High-Dose Vitamin D Supplementation Significantly Affects the Placental Transcriptome.
Anna Louise VestergaardMatilde Kanstrup AndersenRasmus V OlesenPinar BorAgnete LarsenPublished in: Nutrients (2023)
Vitamin D deficiency is a highly prevalent obstetrical concern associated with an increased risk of complications like pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, and growth retardation. Vitamin D status in pregnancy is also linked to long-term offspring health, e.g., the risk of obesity, metabolic disease, and neurodevelopmental problems. Despite the suspected role of vitamin D in placental diseases and fetal development, there is limited knowledge on the effect of vitamin D on placental function. Thus, we performed next-generation RNA sequencing, comparing the placental transcriptome from uncomplicated term pregnancies receiving the often-recommended dose of 10 µg vitamin D/day ( n = 36) with pregnancies receiving 90 µg/day ( n = 34) from late first trimester to delivery. Maternal vitamin D status in the first trimester was also considered. We found that signaling pathways related to cell adhesion, immune function, and neurodevelopment were affected, supporting that increased vitamin D supplementation benefits placental function in established pregnancies without severe vitamin D deficiency, also underlining the importance of vitamin D in brain development. Specific effects of the first trimester vitamin D status and offspring sex were also identified. Further studies are warranted, addressing the optimal vitamin status during pregnancy with a focus on organ-specific vitamin D needs in individual pregnancies.
Keyphrases
- pregnancy outcomes
- preterm birth
- gestational age
- single cell
- high dose
- healthcare
- birth weight
- cell adhesion
- mental health
- high fat diet
- signaling pathway
- gene expression
- metabolic syndrome
- rna seq
- type diabetes
- early onset
- pulmonary embolism
- adipose tissue
- weight gain
- oxidative stress
- cell proliferation
- drug induced
- white matter
- pi k akt