Vitamin D and depressive symptoms in an early adolescent cohort.

BACKGROUND: To explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between vitamin D and depressive symptoms across early adolescence. METHODS: This longitudinal study included 1607 early adolescents [mean (s.d.) age, 12.49 years; 972 (60.5%) males] from the Chinese Early Adolescents Cohort, recruited from a middle school in Anhui Province and followed up annually (2019-2021). Serum 25(OH)D levels were measured in both 2019 and 2021. Self-reports on depression were assessed at each of three time points from 2019 to 2021. RESULTS: In the whole sample, higher baseline serum 25(OH)D levels were linked with a lower risk of cumulative incident depression within two-year follow-ups (adjusted RR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.94-0.99) and the increasing trajectory of depression symptoms across the three waves (adjusted RR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.99). Baseline vitamin D deficiency (VDD) (adjusted RR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.10-2.05) were associated with an increased risk for the increasing trajectory of depression symptoms across the three waves. Remitted VDD was positively related to one dichotomous depression symptoms across three waves (adjusted OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.15-4.01). The above-mentioned significant association was also found in males. Additionally, baseline VDD (adjusted OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.04-2.44) and persistent VDD (adjusted OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.02-2.60) were linked to an increased risk of having two dichotomous depression symptoms only in males. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight a prospective association between baseline vitamin D and depression risk in early adolescents. Additionally, a male-specific association between vitamin D and depression risk was observed. Our findings support a potential beneficial effect of vitamin D supplementation in reducing depression risk in early adolescents.

Gestational bisphenol A exposure advances puberty onset in female offspring: Critical time window identification.

Increasing evidence shows that the early onset of puberty in female offspring may be caused by maternal prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy; however, the critical time window of maternal prenatal BPA exposure remains unknown. Here, we identify the critical time window of gestational BPA exposure that induces early onset of puberty in female offspring. Pregnant CD-1 mice were gavaged with BPA (8 mg/kg) daily during the early gestational stage (GD1-GD6), middle gestational stage (GD7-GD12) or late gestational stage (GD13-GD18). We show that maternal BPA exposure during the early and middle gestational stages could advance the vaginal opening time and increase the serum levels of kisspeptin-10 and GnRH in the female offspring at PND 34. Mechanistically, maternal BPA exposure during early and middle gestation could significantly increase CpG island methylation in the Eed gene promoters but reduce the mRNA expression of Eed in the hypothalamus tissues of the female offspring. In conclusion, the critical period of maternal BPA exposure-induced early onset of puberty in female offspring is early and middle gestation; this BPA-induced early onset of puberty might be partly attributed to epigenetic programming of the Eed gene in the hypothalamus. This study provides important insights regarding the relationship and the mechanisms between BPA and offspring pubertal development.

Maternal vitamin D supplementation inhibits bisphenol A-induced proliferation of Th17 cells in adult offspring.

Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure can increase the risk of immune-related diseases in later life. Vitamin D3 (Vit D3) has been shown to have multiple immunomodulatory actions and has been used to treat immune diseases. However, the potential beneficial effects of Vit D3 on BPA-induced adverse effects in the immune system have not explored. We hypothesize that VitD3 may ameliorate BPA-induced side effects in the immune system, even in offspring of VitD3-supplemented mothers. Here, we established our experimental model by exposing pregnant dams with 1000 nM BPA with or without VitD3 (0.25 µg/kg, 1 µg/kg and 4 µg/kg) treatment. We show that mother's exposure to BPA increases proliferation of the spleen T helper 17 (Th17) cells and serum protein level of IL-17 in the offspring; however, VitD3 supplementation in mothers dose-dependently ameliorated these BPA-induced side effects on the immune system in the offspring as evidenced by attenuated upregulation of Th17 proliferation, and RORγt, IL-17, IL-6, and IL-23 expressions in the offspring. Our data provide the first evidence that maternal VitD3 supplementation offers benefits to the offspring by attenuating BPA-induced side effects on the immune system through vitamin D receptor (VDR)-dependent regulation of transcription factors and cytokines, suggesting its translational potential.

A study on inhibitory effect of Spica prunellae extract on T lymphoma cell EL-4 tumour.

The objective of the study was to investigate the in-vivo anti-tumour activity of Spica prunellae extract, and to preliminarily explore the possible mechanism of in-vivo anti-tumour effect of Spica prunellae extract. Tumour inhibition rate and tumour apoptosis-related protein status were determined using the mice model of transplanted T lymphoma cell EL-4 tumour, and by immunohistochemical method. The results revealed that Spica prunellae extract showed certain tumour inhibitory effect, and compared with the model group. Tumour weight in Spica prunellae high-dose group was highly significantly different (P<0.01). Tumour weight in Spica prunellae medium-dose group was also significantly different (P<0.05) compared with the model group. Spica prunellae high-dose group enabled the high expression of Bcl-2 protein (47.54%) and low expression of Bax protein (13.14%). The study concluded that Spica prunellae extract has certain in vivo anti-tumour effect, which may be achieved through regulation of apoptosis related proteins.