Xiaoying Cui

The University of Queensland | UQ · Queensland Brain Institute

One of the most robust neurochemical abnormalities reported in patients with schizophrenia is an increase in dopamine (DA) synthesis and release, restricted to the dorsal striatum (DS). This hyper functionality is strongly associated with psychotic symptoms and progresses in those who later transition to schizophrenia. To understand the implication...

Developmental vitamin D (DVD)-deficiency is an epidemiologically established risk factor for autism. Emerging studies also highlight the involvement of gut microbiome/gut physiology in autism. The current study aims to examine the effect of DVD-deficiency on a broad range of autism-relevant behavioural phenotypes and gut health. Vitamin D deficient...

Vitamin D has been identified as a key factor in dopaminergic neurogenesis and differentiation. Consequently, developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency has been linked to disorders of abnormal dopamine signalling with a neurodevelopmental basis such as schizophrenia. Here we provide further evidence of vitamin D's role as a mediator of dopaminergic...

Developmental vitamin D (DVD)-deficiency is an epidemiologically established risk factor for autism. Emerging studies also highlight the involvement of gut microbiome/gut physiology in autism. The current study aims to examine the effect of DVD-deficiency on a broad range of autism-relevant behavioural phenotypes and gut health. Vitamin D deficient...

Obesity has become a public health epidemic worldwide and is associated with many diseases with high mortality including hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. High-fat diet (HFD)-induced energy imbalance is one of the primary causes of obesity, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully elucidated. Our study showed that HFD reduced the level...

Dopaminergic (DA) dysfunction is a significant feature in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Established developmental risk factors for schizophrenia such as maternal immune activation (MIA) or developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency, when modelled in animals, reveal the differentiation of early DA neurons in foetal brains is delayed suggesting...

Background Dietary fiber is fermented in the lower gastrointestinal tract, potentially impacting the microbial ecosystem and thus may improve elements of cognition and brain function via the gut-brain axis. β-glucans, soluble dietary fiber, have different macrostructures and may exhibit different effects on the gut-brain axis. This study aimed to c...

Purpose Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) and classic large cell carcinoma (LCC) are two distinct entities with different histological and biological characteristics. However, the mutational profiles and the clinical behavior of the two subtypes of lung cancer remain to be explored. Patients and Methods Pathological diagnoses of all scre...

Background Cognitive impairment, an increasing mental health issue, is a core feature of the aging brain and neurodegenerative diseases. Industrialized nations especially, have experienced a marked decrease in dietary fiber intake, but the potential mechanism linking low fiber intake and cognitive impairment is poorly understood. Emerging research...

The dopaminergic (DA) system is important for a range of brain functions and subcortical DA development precedes many cortical maturational processes. The dysfunction of DA systems has been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, and addiction. DA neuron cell fate is controlled by a complex web of transcription...

Hyperglycemia-induced neuroinflammation promotes the progression of diabetic encephalopathy. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) exerts anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities against neurodegenerative diseases. However, the effects of H2S on hyperglycemia-induced neuroinflammation has not been investigated in neurons. Herein, by using HT-22 neuronal c...

An increase in dopamine (DA) synthesis capacity in the dorsal striatum (DS) during the prodromal stage of schizophrenia becomes more pronounced as patients progress to the full disorder. Understanding this progression is critical to intervening in disease course. We developed an animal model—Enhanced Dopamine in Prodromal Schizophrenia (EDiPS)—whic...

Many epidemiological studies have highlighted the link between vitamin D deficiency and schizophrenia. In particular, two prominent studies report an association between neonatal vitamin D deficiency and an increased risk of schizophrenia. In parallel, much has been learnt about the role of vitamin D in the developing central nervous system over th...

Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which are more common in males. The ‘prenatal sex steroid’ hypothesis links excessive sex-steroid exposure during foetal life with the behavioural differences observed in ASD. However, the reason why sex steroid exposure may be excessive remains unclear. Epidemiolo...

Aim: This study aims to investigate the significance of a micropapillary pattern in stage IIIA-N 2 lung adenocarcinoma after adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Patients & methods: A total of 257 patients with stage IIIA-N 2 lung adenocarcinoma were enrolled in this study. Patients were classified into three groups based on the proportion of micropapillary...

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are vascular lesions that predominantly occur in the brain. CCMs can be sporadic or hereditary in an autosomal dominant manner. The genes harboring variants of familial CCMs (FCCMs) include CCM1/KRIT1, CCM2/MGC4607, and CCM3/PDCD10. In this study, we identified a novel CCM1/KRIT1 mutation in a Chinese family...

Background: Hyperglycemia-induced neuroinflammation promotes the progression of diabetic encephalopathy (DE). Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) exerts anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities against neurodegenerative diseases. However, its role in hyperglycemia-induced neuronal inflammation has not been investigated. Herein, we examined the effects a...

Objectives: Lung adenocarcinoma with a micropapillary pattern is a highly aggressive disease and related to locoregional recurrence after surgery. This study aims to investigate the role of micropapillary pattern in pathologic IIIA-N2 lung adenocarcinoma after adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Methods: A total of consecutive 257 patients with pathologic...

Objectives: To observe the risk factors affecting the occurrence of RP after gemcitabine-based induction chemotherapy. Methods: Between January 2010 and December 2017, patients with NSCLC received gemcitabine or docetaxel chemotherapy, followed by radiotherapy at Zhejiang cancer hospital were enrolled in this study. Patients were treated with ge...

Schizophrenia has been associated with a range of genetic and environmental risk factors. Here we explored a link between two risk factors that converge on a shared neurobiological pathway. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified risk variants in genes that code for L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (L-VGCCs), while epidem...

Emerging evidence suggests that gestational or developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency is associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction, lack of verbal and non-verbal communications, stereotyped repetitive behaviors and hyper-activities....

One of the most robust neurochemical abnormalities reported in patients living with schizophrenia is an increase in dopamine (DA) synthesis and release in the dorsal striatum (DS). Importantly, it appears that this increase progresses as a patient transitions from a prodromal stage to the clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia. Here we have recreated...

Abstract Clues from the epidemiology of schizophrenia, such as the increased risk in those born in winter/spring, have led to the hypothesis that prenatal vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk of later schizophrenia. We wish to explore this hypothesis in a large Danish case-control study (n = 2602). The concentration of 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25...

Developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency has been proposed as an important risk factor for schizophrenia. Our previous study using Sprague Dawley rats found that DVD deficiency disrupted the ontogeny of mesencephalic dopamine neurons by decreasing the mRNA level of a crucial differentiation factor of dopamine cells, the nuclear receptor related 1 p...

Emerging evidence suggests that maternal or developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency is a risk factor for Autism Spectrum Disorders. A well-established association has also been found between gestational infection and increased incidence of autism. Placenta mediates the maternal immune response in respect to the foetus. The placenta is also a major...

Vitamin D is best known for its regulation of calcium homeostasis. Vitamin D exerts its genomic actions via the vitamin D receptor (VDR). As a member of the superfamily of nuclear receptors, the VDR is primarily located within the nucleus of non-dividing cells. We show here that the VDR relocates from the nucleus into the cytoplasm across all stage...

1,25(OH)2D3 (vitamin D) appears essential for the normal development of dopaminergic neurons. Vitamin D affects dopamine synthesis and metabolism as well as expression of glial cell line–derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF),which is crucial for the survival of dopaminergic neurons.We investigated the role of vitaminD on GDNF and its receptors protoon...

Accumulating evidence indicates that the active form of vitamin D, 1,25(OH)2D3, can be considered as a neurosteroid. However, the cerebral expression of vitamin D-associated enzymes and receptors remains controversial. With the idea of carrying out a comparative study in mind, we compared the transcript expression of Cyp27a1, Cyp27b1, Cyp24a1, Vdr...

1,25(OH)2D3 (vitamin D) is well-recognized as a neurosteroid that modulates multiple brain functions. A growing body of evidence indicates that vitamin D plays a pivotal role in brain development, neurotransmission, neuroprotection and immunomodulation. However, the precise molecular mechanisms by which vitamin D exerts these functions in the brain...

Increased dopamine (DA) synthesis and release in the dorsal striatum is the strongest neurochemical finding in schizophrenia (SZ) 1,2. • Treatments for SZ are still only moderately effective 3. • Animal models are necessary to unpick SZ neurobiology 4,5. Aim: to generate an animal model that specifically replicates human SZ pathophysiology. We used...

Vitamin D regulates multiple factors including those involved in the ontogeny of dopaminergic systems. It has been shown that in neonatal rats maternally deprived of vitamin D, dopamine (DA) turnover is decreased with associated reductions in one catabolic enzyme, catechol-o-methyl transferase (COMT). To directly examine this signaling relationship...

Adolescence is a period of dynamic remodeling and maturation in the brain. Exposure to psychotropic drugs during adolescence can potentially alter neural maturation in the adolescent brain subsequently altering neural function at maturity. In this regard, antipsychotic drugs (APDs) are important given a notable global increase in prescription of th...

Vitamin D is a neuroactive steroid. Its genomic actions are mediated via the active form of vitamin D, 1,25(OH)2D3, binding to the vitamin D receptor (VDR). The VDR emerges in rat mesencephalon at embryonic day 12, representing the peak period of dopaminergic cell birth. Our prior studies reveal that developmental vitamin D (DVD)-deficiency alters...

Rationale: Repeated exposure to psychostimulants that either increase dopamine (DA) release or target N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors can induce behavioural sensitisation, a phenomenon that may be important for the processes of addiction and even psychosis. A critical component of behavioural sensitisation is an increase in DA release within...

Apart from its role in regulating calcium there is growing evidence that vitamin D is a neuroactive steroid capable of regulating multiple pathways important for both brain development and mature brain function. Vitamin D induces its genomic effects through its nuclear receptor the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Although there is abundant evidence for t...

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous group of disorders with unknown etiology. Although abnormalities in multiple neurotransmitter systems have been linked to schizophrenia, alterations in dopamine (DA) neurotransmission remain central to the treatment of this disorder. Given that schizophrenia is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder we have hypoth...

There is growing evidence that vitamin D is a neuroactive steroid capable of regulating multiple pathways important for both brain development and mature brain function. In particular, there is evidence from rodent models that prenatal vitamin D deficiency alters the development of dopaminergic pathways and this disruption is associated with altere...

Abnormal dopamine (DA) signaling is often suggested as causative in schizophrenia. The other prominent hypothesis for this disorder, largely driven by epidemiological data, is that certain adverse events during the early stages of brain development increase an individual's risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. However, the clinical and pr...

It is now widely acknowledged that exposure to adverse environmental factors in utero may not only affect how the brain develops but have long-lasting consequences for later brain function in the adult off-spring. This idea has gained particular prominence amongst researchers interested in the etiology of neu-rodevelopmental disorders such as schiz...

Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopment disorder that is strongly associated with alterations in dopamine neurotransmission. Common features of animal models of schizophrenia include behavioural, cognitive and/or pharmacological abnormalities reflective of aberrant DA signaling. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of genes important for...

Erythropoietin (EPO) regulates the proliferation and differentiation of erythroid cells by binding to its specific transmembrane receptor (EPOR). The presence of EPO and its receptor in the CNS suggests a different function for EPO other than erythropoiesis. The purpose of the present study was to examine EPOR expression and the role of EPO in the...

Our group has pioneered research indicating that Developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency (a candidate risk factor for schizophrenia) alters both brain development and function. We have convergent evidence indicating a disturbance in dopamine signalling in this model. 1stly the superior colliculus (the proto-basal ganglia) is the initial site where...

Developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency has been proposed as a risk factor for schizophrenia. DVD deficiency in neonatal rats is associated with alterations in cellular development, dopamine metabolism, and brain morphology. DVD-deficient adult rats show novelty-induced hyperlocomotion and an enhanced locomotor response to MK-801, which can be ame...

There is now clear evidence that vitamin D is involved in brain development. Our group is interested in environmental factors that shape brain development and how this may be relevant to neuropsychiatric diseases including schizophrenia. The origins of schizophrenia are considered developmental. We hypothesised that developmental vitamin D (DVD) de...

There is growing evidence that low vitamin D impacts adversely on brain development. The current study investigated the impact of developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency on dopamine and serotonin metabolism in the neonatal rat brain. DVD-deficiency resulted in an altered dopaminergic metabolic profile in the forebrain, with a decrease in the conve...

Based on clues from epidemiology, it has been proposed that low prenatal vitamin D may be a risk factor for schizophrenia. In order to explore this hypothesis, our group has undertaken an integrated research program linking analytic epidemiology and rodent experiments. There is consistent evidence from rodents that offspring exposed to low developm...

Developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency is a candidate risk factor for schizophrenia. Animal models have confirmed that DVD deficiency is associated with a range of altered genomic, proteomic, structural and behavioural outcomes in the rat. Because the nucleus accumbens has been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders, in the current study we exa...

Evidence is accumulating that normal levels of vitamin D are important for brain development. Vitamin D acts as an anti-proliferative agent in a wide variety of tissues and developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency has been shown to alter brain structure and function. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of DVD deficiency on neuroprog...

This chapter discusses developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency as a potential risk factor for schizophrenia. Over the last decade, evidence has accumulated demonstrating that vitamin D plays an important role in brain development; hence, vitamin D deficiency may result in a higher risk for schizophrenia. Scientist conducted an experiment on rats t...

Increasing evidence has revealed that the Notch signalling pathway is one of the pivotal systems that mediate oligodendrocyte development. The Notch receptor is a type I transmembrane molecule that represents a novel cellular signalling paradigm, namely, regulated intramembrane proteolysis (RIP). The typical Notch ligands, such as Delta, Serrate/Ja...

Neurons and glia in the vertebrate central nervous system arise in temporally distinct, albeit overlapping, phases. Neurons are generated first followed by astrocytes and oligodendrocytes from common progenitor cells. Increasing evidence indicates that axon-derived signals spatiotemporally modulate oligodendrocyte maturation and myelin formation. O...

Axon-derived molecules are temporally and spatially required as positive or negative signals to coordinate oligodendrocyte differentiation. Increasing evidence suggests that, in addition to the inhibitory Jagged1/Notch1 signaling cascade, other pathways act via Notch to mediate oligodendrocyte differentiation. The GPI-linked neural cell recognition...