Kurnia Maidarmi Handayani, Widia Sari, Ghaniyyatul Khudri, Alief Dhuha, Rifkind Malik, Melya Susanti, Laura Zeffira, Annisa Lidra Maribeth
Turkish Journal of Immunology - 2025;13(3):158-168
Objective: Vitamin D? is increasingly recognized for its role in immune regulation, particularly in modulating proinflammatory cytokines during early development. This study aimed to investigate the dose-dependent effects of maternal vitamin D? supplementation during pregnancy and lactation on offspring inflammatory cytokine levels, focusing on interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Materials and Methods: Twelve pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to four groups: one control and three treatment groups receiving vitamin D? at 62, 415 and 663 IU/kg body weight/day, respectively. Supplementation was administered orally from gestation day 1 to postnatal day 23. Offspring were subjected to an acute inflammatory challenge via lipopolysaccharide injection, after which induration size was measured. Serum levels of vitamin D?, IL-1beta and IL-6 in six offspring per group were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the least significant difference (LSD) post hoc test. Results: No significant difference was observed in post-injection induration size between groups (p>0.05). However, the group receiving 663 IU/kg/day vitamin D? exhibited significantly higher serum vitamin D? levels (21.15 +/- 15.8 ng/mL) compared with controls (3.56 +/- 3.20 ng/mL, p=0.023), along with significantly lower IL-1beta level (33.5 +/- 25.44 pg/mL, p<0.001). IL-6 levels showed a similar decreasing trend. Serum vitamin D? was moderately and inversely correlated with IL-1beta (r= -0.43, p=0.042). Conclusion: Maternal vitamin D? supplementation during gestation and lactation elevated serum vitamin D? and suppressed IL-1beta and IL-6 levels in offspring, suggesting a dose-dependent immunomodulatory effect. These findings highlight the potential of maternal vitamin D? status to influence inflammatory responses during early life.
