title: Is the vitamin d receptor found in muscle?
abstract: The active form of vitamin D, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3), is critical for the regulation of serum calcium and phosphorus levels that in turn support bone mineralization and neuromuscular activity. It is well known that vitamin D deficiency causes rachitic/osteomalacic myopathy and cardiac disorder and the provision of vitamin D can reverse the symptoms. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The question of whether the vitamin D receptor is found in muscle has been debated but not settled. We recently studied all available antibodies against the vitamin D receptor and found that most antibodies used detect proteins other than the vitamin D receptor, and therefore, the utility of these antibodies may generate the false-positive results. Using antibodies that do not detect proteins in tissues from vitamin D receptor null mice, we have developed a specific and sensitive immunohistochemical assay. The results from this investigation show that the vitamin D receptor is undetectable in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle, suggesting that the function of vitamin D on muscle is either of an indirect nature or does not involve the known receptor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 433 Babcock Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1544, USA.
authors.forename: Yongji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hector F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: DeLuca
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000378:metabolism; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism*; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000378:metabolism*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol