Effects of Vitamin D on Lumbar Disk Degeneration Based on PINK1/Parkin Signaling Pathway

Vitamin D affects calcium homeostasis and is a crucial factor in cytoplasmic and mitochondrial interactions implicated in muscle energy metabolism. This study probed the effect of vitamin D on lumbar disk degeneration based on the PINK1/ Parkin signaling pathway. Primary nucleus pulposus cells from Sprague-Dawley rats were cultured to construct a model of oxidative stress in vitro, and the expression and activity of target proteins in related genes and signaling pathways were detected via real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. We simulated disk degeneration by inducing high levels of oxidative stress in nucleus pulposus cells with 100 mu M hydrogen peroxide. Vitamin D treatment could effectively increase the expression of genes related to the nucleus pulposus matrix as well as decrease disk degeneration factors' expression. Further mechanism results displayed that vitamin D effectively reduced oxidative stress indexes in nucleus pulposus cell s and alleviated hydrogen peroxide -mediated degeneration of nucleus pulposus cells by activating the PINK1/Parkin pathway. We confirm that vitamin D activates the PINK1/Parkin pathway to play an antioxidative stress role and delay the aging and degeneration of nucleus pulposus cells.