Effects of vitamin D on intracellular calcium of primary neuronal cultures

• Grant number: 17/08567-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2017
• End date: July 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Marucia Chacur
• Grantee: Rafael Augusto Galdino Venega
• Supervisor: Wolfgang Greffrath
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/14675-8 - Effects of vitamin D supplementation in rats with chronic neuropathy, BP.IC

Abstract

Vitamin D (VD) exerts a fundamental role in several biological processes. Its effects on bone and calcium metabolism are vastly known. Recently, some findings linked the VD to neuroinflammatory processes and, more recently, to pain and nociception. Those findings suggest that VD may play a pivotal role on intracellular mechanisms, influencing intracellular calcium concentrations. Calcium concentrations regulate a wide intracellular signaling cascade in neurons. However, these VD functions on intracellular calcium dynamics are still poorly understood in nociceptive processes. The primary neuronal culture provides a highly controlled environment for studying the intracellular environment and, allied to the calcium imaging, allows the observation of the intracellular calcium dynamics. This project aims to measure the intracellular calcium of primary cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons subjected to noxious stimulation and, afterward, start a supervised pilot experiment in order to measure the effects of VD on intracellular calcium levels in primary neuronal cultures. (AU)