Vitamin D modulates cortical transcriptome in an Mecp2 heterozygous Rett syndrome mouse model

We investigated whether dietary vitamin D supplementation can rescue the expression of genes that are dysregulated within the neocortex of Mecp2+/- mice, and whether vitamin D deficiency further exacerbates transcriptome disruptions in these mice. We found that dietary vitamin D modification has a profound impact on the transcriptome of the neocortex. We identified more than 200 differentially expressed genes whose expression is normalized with vitamin D supplementation, many of which are associated with neuronal morphology. Dietary vitamin D deficiency exacerbated the dysregulation of many of these genes in the Mecp2+/- cortex, but, strikingly, it normalized the expression of many other dysregulated genes, similar to the effect of supplementation. Total cortical RNA-seq profiles of 7 month-old Mecp2+/+ and Mecp2+/- mice on diets with defined vitamin D concentrations.