Hypertension and kidney alterations in rat offspring from low protein pregnancies.

OBJECTIVE: Low birth weight contributes to the early onset of end-stage renal disease. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate early and late glomerular structural alterations in both sexes of Wistar rat offspring from dams submitted to severe low protein intake during gestation.

METHODS: Offspring from dams fed normal protein (19% of protein) or low protein (5% of protein) were studied at days 0, 10, 90 and 180 of age.

RESULTS: Inner cortical structure showed immature (comma-shaped and S-shaped forms) and mature corpuscles in different proportions in low protein offspring (less maturity) and normal protein offspring (more maturity). At day 10 (end of the nephrogenesis period), immature corpuscles were observed only in low protein offspring. In adulthood, low protein offspring had higher blood pressure, and showed thicker glomerular basement membrane (GBM) with effacement of the pedicles, and slit diaphragm absent with some podocytes directly adhering to the basal membrane with pedicles absent. The number of renal corpuscles was lower in low protein offspring than in normal protein offspring of the same sex, all age groups (P < 0.001). No interaction was observed between sex and maternal nutrition for the same sex and all age groups.

CONCLUSION: Gestational low protein leads to glomerulogenesis retardation and consequently a lower nephron number with thick GBM and structural alterations in the pedicles of podocytes.