The effect of intrauterine growth retardation on the development of renal nephrons

Quantitative microscopy in studies of intrauterine growth retardation

In the past, the detection of fetal damage has tended to be restricted to the naked eye identification of major malformations, with the period of organ maturation being relatively neglected. Increasingly, however, unbiased design-based stereology is being used in developmental toxicological studies. In the field of intrauterine growth retardation, such methods are capable of providing new insights into fetal vulnerability during critical periods in organogenesis, with consequences for both post-natal and adult disease.

Hypertension-related morbidity and mortality in the southeastern United States

Stroke mortality is higher in the Southeast compared with other regions of the United States. The prevalence of hypertension is also higher (black men = 35%, black women = 37.7%, white men = 26.5%, white women = 21.5%), and the proportion of patients whose hypertension is being controlled is poor, especially in white and black men. The prevalence of hypertension-related complications other than stroke is also higher in the Southeast. The five states with the highest death rates for congestive heart failure are all in the southern region. Of the 15 states with the highest rates of end-stage renal disease, 10 are in the Southeast. Obesity is very prevalent (24% to 28%) in the Southeast. Although Michigan tops the ranking for all states, 6 of the top 15 states are in the Southeast, as are 7 of the 10 states with the highest reported prevalence regarding no leisure-time physical activity. Similar to other areas of the United States, dietary sodium and saturated fat intake are high in the Southeast; dietary potassium intake appears to be relatively low. Other factors that may be associated with the high prevalence, poor control, and excess morbidity and mortality of hypertension-related complications in the Southeast include misperceptions of the seriousness of the problem, the severity of the hypertension, lack of adequate follow-up, reduced access to health care, the cost of treatment, and possibly, low birth weights. The Consortium of Southeastern Hypertension Control (COSEHC) is a nonprofit organization created in 1992 in response to a compelling need to improve the disproportionate hypertension-related morbidity and mortality throughout this region. The purpose of this position paper is to summarize the data that document the problem, the consequences, and possible causative factors.

Effectiveness of interventions to prevent or treat impaired fetal growth

This is an overview of 126 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating 36 prenatal interventions to prevent or treat impaired fetal growth (IFG). Results are based on systematic reviews including the meta-analyses of these RCTs. Most of the prenatal interventions do not show any significant effects on short-term perinatal outcomes. There are, however, a few interventions likely to be beneficial: smoking cessation, antimalarial chemoprophylaxis in primigravidae, and balanced protein/energy supplementation. Others merit further research: zinc, folate, and magnesium supplementation during gestation. Appropriate combinations of interventions should be a priority for evaluation because it is unlikely that a single intervention will reduce a multicausal outcome like IFG that is so dependent on socioeconomic disparities. Of concern is the discrepancy between the importance given in the epidemiological and clinical literature to the problem of IFG and the methodological quality and sample size of the RCTs conducted for the evaluation of preventive or treatment modalities.

Intrauterine programming of hypertension by glucocorticoids

An ever increasing body of evidence indicates that cardiovascular disease is determined by prenatal experience of undernutrition. Animal experiments suggest that in addition to maternal dietary interventions, exposure of the fetus to glucocorticoid hormones may programme fetal physiology and metabolism, such that cardiovascular functions are permanently altered. Through nutritional regulation of maternal-placental-fetal hormone interactions long term risk of hypertension may be established long before exposure to adult lifestyle factors more usually associated with cardiovascular mortality.

Organ-selective growth in the offspring of protein-restricted mothers

Recent epidemiological studies in people whose birth weights were recorded many years ago suggest links between impaired growth during early life and the development of diseases, including diabetes, much later in life. The long-term effects of retarded early growth are proposed to result from malnutrition at critical periods of fetal or infant development leading to reduction in the growth of organs and permanent changes in their metabolism or structure, or both. In order to investigate this, a rat model was established which involved feeding either a diet containing 200 g protein/kg or an isoenergetic diet containing 80 g protein/kg to pregnant and lactating rats. In addition, cross-fostering techniques were employed which allowed a separate evaluation of the prenatal or the postnatal periods. The offspring were studied at 21 d of age or were weaned onto a normal laboratory chow and studied at 11 months of age. The 80 g protein/kg diet during pregnancy did not affect the overall reproductive although more subtle differences were evident. Permanent growth retardation was evident in offspring subjected to maternal protein restriction during the postnatal period. At 21 d of age the offspring of protein-restricted mothers exhibited selective changes in organ growth: compared with the body weight, the lung and brain experienced a smaller decrease in weight: the heart, kidney and thymus decreased proportionately: whereas, the pancreas, spleen, muscle and liver showed a greater reduction in weight. In older animals the muscle weight was lower in the male rats and the relative weight of pancreas was increased in the female rats.

Developmental renal physiology of the low birth weight pre-term newborn

PURPOSE

The remarkable growth of the kidney and the rapid changes in renal function in the second half of gestation and early postnatal period are discussed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Adaptation to the extrauterine environment involves immediate postnatal natriuresis that is prolonged in the pre-term neonate, followed by the sodium retention necessary for growth. Glomerular filtration rate increases throughout the postnatal period, and it is modulated by the renin-angiotensin system and prostaglandins. Because of this, the fetus and neonate are particularly susceptible to renal injury following the administration of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Renal tubular function in the neonate is characterized by reduced renal concentration and acidification ability, which can be further compromised by obstructive uropathy. Urine calcium excretion is high in the neonate, which can be aggravated by calciuric drugs, such as furosemide and glucocorticoids.

RESULTS

Reduced renal mass results in compensatory renal growth even in the fetus, a response that could prove maladaptive later in life through excessive glomerular hyperfiltration and progressive interstitial fibrosis.

CONCLUSIONS

These factors underscore the importance of attempting to maximize functional renal mass in the neonate or infant with renal impairment of any etiology.

Stereological estimation of the absolute number of glomeruli in the kidneys of lambs

An association between the arrest of renal development and intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) has been demonstrated in human beings and it has been suggested that the same defect may occur in the kidneys of lambs affected by IUGR. Using design-based stereological methods, the physical disector and Cavalieri's principle, smaller absolute numbers of glomeruli were found in all six IUGR lambs studied with a low birthweight and in two of six control lambs studied with a normal birthweight than in other lambs with a normal birthweight. There was no difference in absolute numbers of glomeruli between twin births and singletons. The absolute numbers of glomeruli in three stillborn lambs were distributed among results obtained from the normal and IUGR lambs in accordance with their individual bodyweights. IUGR had a profound detrimental effect on the renal development of the lambs.

Fewer nephrons at birth: a missing link in the etiology of essential hypertension?

In 1988, Brenner et al advanced the hypothesis that the nephron endowment at birth is inversely related to the risk of developing essential hypertension in later life (Am J Hypertens 1:335-347, 1988). This novel perspective on the origins of essential hypertension was taken from the viewpoint that the development and maintenance of hypertension must involve a renal factor favoring sodium retention, thereby preventing pressure-induced natriuresis from restoring blood pressure toward normal levels. Since nephron numbers in the normal population range from 300,000 to 1,100,000 or more, it was reasoned that a congenital deficit in nephron endowment itself could be the renal risk factor for hypertension: demographic groups in whom hypertension is unusually prevalent tend to have smaller kidneys, implying fewer nephrons, and some inbred hypertensive rat strains have, on average, fewer nephrons than their respective normotensive controls. We argue that recent independent observations in humans relating low birth weight to both increased risk of hypertension in later life and the formation of fewer nephrons at birth lend strong support to the nephron number hypothesis. Moreover, independent experimental studies in rodents suggest that maternal protein intake during gestation is directly related to he numbers of nephrons formed and that when protein intake is restricted, the offspring develop hypertension in maturity. The concept that nephron numbers may be programmed during gestation, as these observations imply, is discussed in relation to the potential advantages and disadvantages of such a mechanism for the next generation; parallels are drawn with the relationship of low birth weight to pancreatic beta cell development and maturity-onset diabetes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The low birth weight hypothesis as a plausible explanation for the black/white differences in hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and end-stage renal disease

It is well known that black Americans have a higher risk for low birth weight (LBW) than white Americans. In addition, blacks are at a higher risk for hypertension (HT), non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), and end-stage renal disease (ESRD), particularly ESRD attributed to HT (ESRD-HT) and NIDDM (ESRD-NIDDM). It has been shown that LBW is associated with postpartum anatomic and functional alterations in the kidney and pancreas as well as with progressive renal damage in animals and increased risk for HT and NIDDM during adulthood in humans. Based on these empirical findings, it is here proposed that a greater risk of HT, NIDDM, and ESRD, particularly ESRD-HT and ESRD-NIDDM, in black Americans during adulthood may be partly related to their higher risk of LBW. However, LBW is proposed here as a component factor rather than a sufficient cause or a necessary factor for the development of these diseases. The ultimate contribution of LBW to the black/white disparities regarding HT, NIDDM, and ESRD may depend not only on the black/white differences in LBW but also on the race-specific prevalences of other component factors, both environmental/behavioral and genetic, that may or may not require the presence of LBW to cause each of these diseases.

Analyzing renal glomeruli with the new stereology

The highly specialized architecture of the renal glomerulus is altered in a variety of disease states. Morphometric methods, including stereological methods, have been widely used to analyze these changes in both animal and human glomeruli. However, many of the methods available until recently were biased and provided incomplete information. The past few years have witnessed the development of a new generation of unbiased stereological methods. Another advantage of these new methods and strategies is that they are less influenced by technical artifacts than the traditional methods. This chapter describes how these new stereological methods can be used to quantify glomerular morphology. Parameters considered include glomerular number and volume; glomerular cell number and size; and the length, surface area, and number of glomerular capillaries. Methods for obtaining data for average glomeruli as well as individual glomeruli are described. Technical details are included wherever possible.

Altered glucose tolerance in rats exposed to maternal low protein diets in utero

The response to an intravenous glucose load was evaluated in four groups of rats following fetal exposure to maternal diets containing 18, 12, 9 or 6% protein. The animals differed nutritionally only in terms of this prenatal experience. Animals in the 6% protein exposed group exhibited lower body weights at all ages, whilst the body weights of 9 and 12% protein exposed rats did not differ from the control group. At 9 weeks of age, a 2 g/kg body weight intravenous glucose load was cleared in 60 min by 18% protein exposed, control rats and 12% protein exposed rats. Peak blood glucose concentrations in these animals were 27.2 and 27.1 mM, respectively. Rats exposed to 9% protein in utero also cleared the glucose load in 60 min, but peak blood glucose concentrations were lower (24.4 mM), and the area under the glucose tolerance curve was 28% lower than in controls. Rats in the 6% protein exposed group cleared the glucose load in 40 min and peak blood glucose levels were only 22.1 mM. The area under the glucose tolerance curve was reduced by 40% relative to controls. When the glucose tolerance test was repeated in animals aged 44 weeks, no differences in peak glucose concentrations, area under the curve or rates of glucose clearance were observed. In utero exposure of rats to maternal low protein diets has been shown, therefore, to alter glucose tolerance in young adulthood through an, as yet, undefined mechanism.

Pregnancy outcome data in a United Arab Emirates population: what can they tell us?

A cross-sectional study of pregnancy outcome in a national Arabic population is presented to highlight a unique reproductive environment compared with many other obstetric populations. A high pro-natal intensity is evident with significant numbers of grandmultipara (36.7%) and mature gravida (22.2%). These groups did not show any significant increase in adverse antenatal or intrapartum events apart from an increasing rate of gestational diabetes with maternal age. There was an average induction/augmentation rate of 10.2% with a low rate of instrumental delivery (2.3%) and a mean caesarean section rate of 6.9%. A major antenatal complication noted was the prevalance of 17.3% for a haemoglobin < 10 g/dl together with overall increased rates of pre-existing and gestational diabetes. In addition the incidence of preterm labour increased over each of the 3 years studied and is of concern.

Focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis in children with reflux nephropathy

A histological review of 86 pediatric nephrectomy specimens from patients with vesicoureteric reflux (with or without apparent obstruction at the vesicoureteric junction) investigated the relationship between the presence and extent of focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and coexisting renal hypoplasia and postnatally acquired cortical damage. FSGS was found in 18 patients, 9 of whom were less than 5 years old. There was no significant association between the presence (or grade) or absence of FSGS and age at nephrectomy, gender, presence or absence of obstruction, and severity of hypoplasia and/or postnatally acquired cortical loss. FSGS was absent from 18 hypoplastic kidneys without vesicoureteric reflux (although of relatively young age), 40 normally developed kidneys age-matched with the index population, and 72 nephrectomy specimens without vesicoureteric reflux (except in 2 known cases of focal segmental glomerulonephritis). Within the index population FSGS was significantly (P < .01) associated with hypertension, and hypertension was significantly associated with proteinuria (P < .001) but not with an abnormal contralateral kidney. There was no significant association between FSGS, proteinuria, and an abnormal contralateral kidney. Our results were unexpected when interpreted within a pathogenesis for FSGS of glomerular "hyperfiltration." They may, at least in the pediatric age group, indicate a possible role for other mechanisms in the development of FSGS.

Renal developmental arrest in sudden infant death syndrome

Investigations linking sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and type II intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) have thus far failed due in part to technical limitations. Recently developed stereological methods for the unbiased estimation of total nephron number in the human kidney are capable of detecting deviations from normal values of greater than 10%. We compared the total number of nephrons in the kidneys of 24 SIDS victims with those from 16 controls with the same age range. Mean nephron number was significantly (P < 0.001) reduced in ex-IUGR SIDS cases (birthweight under the 10th centile, n = 9, mean number 635,000, range 327,000-1,010,000) in comparison with controls (903,000, 740,000-1,060,000). A similarly significant (P < 0.01) reduction in the "normal birthweight" SIDS group (birthweight over 10th centile, n = 15, 690,000, 361,000-1,040,000) was found. This hitherto unreported renal developmental arrest may be only one manifestation of a general, somatic developmental defect, reflecting adverse intrauterine conditions; other organ systems, similarly critical to homeostasis may be comparably affected. The findings, although not proposed as direct cause of SIDS, may represent a potential explanation for the recognized association of IUGR and SIDS, and provide--we believe--the first quantitative evidence of intrauterine growth retardation in, at least a number of, children of average birthweight.