Developmental vitamin D-deficiency increases the expression of microRNAs involved in dopamine neuron development

Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with abnormal dopamine (DA) signalling and disruptions in early brain development. We have shown that developmental vitamin D-deficiency (DVD-deficiency) increases the risk of schizophrenia in offspring and impairs various aspects of brain development in rodents, particularly that of DA neurons, however the molecular basis of these impairments remains unclear. Here, we explore whether small non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved. miRNAs regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally via translational repression and destabilisation of mRNA. While dysregulation of multiple miRNAs has been reported in post-mortem brain of patients with schizophrenia, the biological pathways affected by these small RNAs are not clear. Here we identified differential expression of 18 miRNAs in DA neurons isolated from DVD-deficient embryos. Three miRNAs were selected for further functional studies of dopaminergic neuron differentiation based on their interactions with transcripts involved in neuronal maturation. In particular, we show upregulation of miR-181c-5p suppresses neurite outgrowth of dopaminergic neurons. These findings provide further evidence that an environmental risk factor for schizophrenia - DVD-deficiency - disrupts the development of DA neurons and suggests increased miRNA expression may be one possible mechanism. This disruption potentially underlies the long-term alterations in DA mediated brain function in DVD-deficient offspring, and by inference in schizophrenia.