Biological Effects of Vitamin D3 Mediated by the Interaction with VDR in Different Tissues

In recent years, vitamin D has seen growing interest among researchers. For this reason, the biological effects of vitamin D3 (vitD) mediated by the interaction with VDR were studied in different tissues (ovarian, gastric, cardiac and brain). It has been demonstrated that in ovarian tissues a high density of VDR is present as well and vitD acts through intracellular mechanisms similar to what observed for resveratrol. The aims of this part of research were to evaluate the cooperative effects of resveratrol (RES) combined with vitD on ovarian cells studying cell viability, ROS production, activated pathways in in vitro study and in in vivo study to quantify vitD and RES, to analyze the concentration of radical oxygen species and to study activated pathways. Since vitD appears to have gastroprotective properties, the effects of vitD have been studied also in stomach combined with alginates; it has been tested alone and combined with Diclofenac in order to provide an effective and safer strategy for the management of NSAID-induced gastroenteric lesions. Hence, the primary objective of this research was to evaluate whether it is possible to improve the protection of the gastric mucosa during therapy with Diclofenac. As regards the research part focused on vitD in cardiovascular system, the effects of combination of vitD, Q10 and L-arginine on cell viability and NO/ROS production in endothelial and cardiac cells were evaluated in order to assess a potential cooperative effect of these substances on cardiovascular function at the cellular level. As regards the research part focused on effects of vitD in brain ageing, the ability of vitD combined with lipoic acid has been studied to prevent or repair the damage caused by oxidative stress and iron accumulation, two different biological aspects involved in brain ageing and neurodegeneration.