What is it about?
Protein energy malnutrition (PEM) is a global problem, is prevalent, and can lead to babies born small-for-gestational age – an estimated 32 million babies are born like this each year. These infants are more susceptible to mortality during childhood or to non-communicable disease as an adult. An optimal nutritional environment during fetal development is therefore of utmost importance. This is especially true for organs like the kidney that has its full complement of nephrons by the time of birth and a very limited capacity for repair or regeneration after acute injury or chronic decline. Identification of nutritional factors in the maternal diet that may impact development of the kidney are particular important targets for scientific study. Surprisingly, to our knowledge, no study has described a pathway from maternal PEM, through fetal PEM to programming of fetal kidney development and function in later adult life.
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Why is it important?
We have previously described an anatomically and physiologically compromised kidney in adult sheep that experienced maternal PEM during early gestation (Lloyd et al. J Physiol 5;590(Pt 2):377-93 2012). The present manuscript extends this work to consider the mechanistic basis of such effects in the fetus i.e. the extent to which maternal PEM translates as reduced macronutrient availability in the fetal compartment.
Perspectives
In this manuscript, we were able to identify an altered pattern of nutrients (low maternal protein=reduced urea=reduced fetal ornithine) that associates with compromised fetal kidney microvascular (i.e. vascular endothelial) development. Additionally, with sufficient numbers of male and female fetuses assigned to treatment groups we were able to consider potential sex-specific interactions with maternal diet (it is worse for males!). The latter appears to underpin developmental origins of health and disease, regardless of the model organism.
Professor David S Gardner
University of Nottingham
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Maternal protein-energy malnutrition during early pregnancy in sheep impacts the fetal ornithine cycle to reduce fetal kidney microvascular development, The FASEB Journal, July 2014, Federation of American Societies For Experimental Biology (FASEB),
DOI: 10.1096/fj.14-255364.
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