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Intrauterine growth retardation leads to a permanent nephron deficit in the rat

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Abstract

Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by partial artery ligation of one uterine horn in the mother on day 17 of gestation or by feeding the mother a 5% protein diet from day 8 of gestation. The controls were pups of the contralateral uterine horn or pups born to mothers fed a normal (22%) protein diet. The number of nephrons present at birth and the final number of nephrons in 2-week-old rats were counted throughout the entire kidney. The number of nephrons present at birth and the final number of nephrons were significantly correlated with birth weight for growth-retarded rats of both groups and their corresponding controls (P<0.02 for the poorest correlation). Clearance experiments and morphometric studies of 2-week-old rats born to mothers with uterine artery ligation indicated that, despite a large compensatory hypertrophy of the nephrons in those animals born with a nephron deficit of about 30%, the overal renal function was impaired. We conclude that IUGR is accompanied by a nephron deficit which may not be fully compensated for within the first weeks after birth.

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Author notes

  1. Martine Muffat-Joly

    Present address: INSERM U. 13, F-75944, Paris, France

  2. Bruno Leroy

    Present address: Service de Néphrologie, Hôpital Trousseau, F-75012, Paris, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Recherches sur le Développement Normal et Pathologique des Fonctions Epithéliales, INSERM U. 319, Université Paris 7, 2 place Jussieu, F-75251, Paris, France

    Claudie Merlet-Bénichou, Thierry Gilbert, Martine Muffat-Joly, Martine Lelièvre-Pégorier & Bruno Leroy

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  1. Claudie Merlet-Bénichou
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  2. Thierry Gilbert
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  3. Martine Muffat-Joly
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  4. Martine Lelièvre-Pégorier
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  5. Bruno Leroy
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Merlet-Bénichou, C., Gilbert, T., Muffat-Joly, M. et al. Intrauterine growth retardation leads to a permanent nephron deficit in the rat. Pediatr Nephrol 8, 175–180 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00865473

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00865473

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