Prenatal ethanol exposure increased the susceptibility of adult offspring rats to glomerulosclerosis

Early-life exposures and long-term health: adverse gestational environments and the programming of offspring renal and vascular disease

According to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis, exposure to certain environmental influences during early life may be a key determinant of fetal development and short- and long-term offspring health. Indeed, adverse conditions encountered during the fetal, perinatal, and early childhood stages can alter normal development and growth, as well as put the offspring at elevated risk of developing long-term health conditions in adulthood, including chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular diseases. Of relevance in understanding the mechanistic basis of these long-term health conditions are previous findings showing low glomerular number in human intrauterine growth restriction and low birth weight-indicators of a suboptimal intrauterine environment. In different animal models, the main suboptimal intrauterine conditions studied relate to maternal dietary manipulations, poor micronutrient intake, prenatal ethanol exposure, maternal diabetes, glucocorticoid and chemical exposure, hypoxia, and placental insufficiency. These studies have demonstrated changes in kidney structure, glomerular endowment, and expression of key genes and signaling pathways controlling endocrine, excretion, and filtration function of the offspring. This review aims to summarize those studies to uncover the effects and mechanisms by which adverse gestational environments impact offspring renal and vascular health in adulthood. This is important for identifying agents and interventions that can prevent and mitigate the long-term consequences of an adverse intrauterine environment on the subsequent generation.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Human data and experimental animal data show that suboptimal environments during fetal development increase the risk of renal and vascular diseases in adult-life. This is related to permanent changes in kidney structure, function, and expression of genes and signaling pathways controlling filtration, excretion, and endocrine function. Uncovering the mechanisms by which offspring renal development and function is impacted is important for identifying ways to mitigate the development of diseases that strain health care services worldwide.

Prenatal Inflammatory Exposure Predisposes Offspring to Chronic Kidney Diseases Via the Activation of the eIF2α-ATF4 Pathway

It has recently become more recognized that renal diseases in adults can originate from adverse intrauterine (maternal) environmental exposures. Previously, we found that prenatal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure can result in chronic renal inflammation, which leads to renal damage in older offspring rats. To test whether prenatal inflammatory exposure predisposes offspring to renal damage, a mouse model of oral adenine consumption-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD) was applied to offspring from prenatal LPS-treated mothers (offspring-pLPS) and age-matched control offspring of prenatal saline-treated mothers (offspring-pSaline). We found that offspring-pLPS mice presented with more severe renal collagen deposition and renal dysfunction after 4 weeks of adenine consumption than sex- and treatment-matched offspring-pSaline controls. To illustrate the underlying molecular mechanism, we subjected offspring-pLPS and offspring-pSaline kidneys to genome-wide transcriptomic analysis. Bioinformatic analysis of the sequencing data, together with further experimental confirmation, revealed a strong activation of the PERK-eIF2α-ATF4-mediated unfolded protein response (UPR) in offspring-pLPS kidneys, which likely contributed to the CKD predisposition seen in offspring-pLPS mice. More importantly, the specific eIF2α-ATF4 signaling inhibitor ISIRB was able to prevent adenine-induced CKD in the offspring-pLPS mice. Our findings suggest that the eIF2α-ATF4-mediated UPR, but not PERK, is likely the major disease-causing pathway in prenatal inflammatory exposure-induced CKD predisposition. Our study also suggests that targeting this signaling pathway is a potentially promising approach for CKD treatment.

The function of miRNAs in the process of kidney development

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that typically consist of 19-25 nucleotides in length. These molecules function as essential regulators of gene expression by selectively binding to complementary target sequences within messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, consequently exerting a negative impact on gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. By modulating the stability and translation efficiency of target mRNAs, miRNAs play pivotal roles in diverse biological processes, including the intricate orchestration of organ development. Among these processes, the development of the kidney has emerged as a key area of interest regarding miRNA function. Intriguingly, recent investigations have uncovered a subset of miRNAs that exhibit remarkably high expression levels in the kidney, signifying their close association with kidney development and diseases affecting this vital organ. This growing body of evidence strongly suggests that miRNAs serve as crucial regulators, actively shaping both the physiological processes governing kidney function and the pathological events leading to renal disorders. This comprehensive review aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the latest research progress regarding miRNAs and their involvement in kidney development. By examining the intricate interplay between miRNAs and the molecular pathways driving kidney development, this review seeks to elucidate the underlying mechanisms through which miRNAs exert their regulatory functions. Furthermore, an in-depth exploration of the role played by miRNAs in the occurrence and progression of renal dysplasia will be presented. Renal dysplasia represents a significant developmental anomaly characterized by abnormal kidney tissue formation, and miRNAs have emerged as key players in this pathological process. By shedding light on the intricate network of miRNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms involved in kidney dysplasia, this review aims to provide valuable insights for the diagnosis and research of diseases associated with aberrant kidney development.

Developmental toxicity and programming alterations of multiple organs in offspring induced by medication during pregnancy

Medication during pregnancy is widespread, but there are few reports on its fetal safety. Recent studies suggest that medication during pregnancy can affect fetal morphological and functional development through multiple pathways, multiple organs, and multiple targets. Its mechanisms involve direct ways such as oxidative stress, epigenetic modification, and metabolic activation, and it may also be indirectly caused by placental dysfunction. Further studies have found that medication during pregnancy may also indirectly lead to multi-organ developmental programming, functional homeostasis changes, and susceptibility to related diseases in offspring by inducing fetal intrauterine exposure to too high or too low levels of maternal-derived glucocorticoids. The organ developmental toxicity and programming alterations caused by medication during pregnancy may also have gender differences and multi-generational genetic effects mediated by abnormal epigenetic modification. Combined with the latest research results of our laboratory, this paper reviews the latest research progress on the developmental toxicity and functional programming alterations of multiple organs in offspring induced by medication during pregnancy, which can provide a theoretical and experimental basis for rational medication during pregnancy and effective prevention and treatment of drug-related multiple fetal-originated diseases.

Prenatal caffeine exposure induced renal developmental toxicity and transgenerational effect in rat offspring

Epidemiological studies revealed that prenatal caffeine exposure (PCE) is associated with adverse gestational outcomes and susceptibility to chronic diseases in offspring, yet the effects of PCE on glomerulosclerosis susceptibility in adult female offspring and its intergenerational transmission remain to be further investigated. Here, we found that PCE caused fetal kidney dysplasia and glomerulosclerosis of the female offspring. Besides, the kidney of F1 offspring in PCE group exhibited the "low expressional programming of AT2R" and "GC-IGF1 programming" alteration. Intergenerational genetic studies revealed that the renal defect and GC-IGF1 programming alteration was inherited to F2 adult female offspring derived from the female germ line, but Low expression of AT2R did not extend to the F2 female offspring. Taken together, PCE caused renal dysplasia and adult glomerulosclerosis in the F1 female offspring, which might be mediated by renal AT2R low expressional programming and GC-IGF1 axis alteration. Furthermore, PCE induced transgenerational toxicity on kidney, and GC-IGF1 programming alteration might be the potential molecular mechanism. This study provided experimental evidence for the mechanism study of the intergenerational inheritance of kidney developmental toxicity caused by PCE.

Intergenerational genetic programming mechanism and sex differences of the adrenal corticosterone synthesis dysfunction in offspring induced by prenatal ethanol exposure

We previously found that prenatal ethanol exposure (PEE) induced adrenal dysplasia in offspring, which was related to intrauterine maternal glucocorticoid overexposure. This study investigated the intergenerational genetic effect and sex differences of PEE-induced changes in the synthetic function of adrenal corticosterone in offspring, and to clarify the intrauterine origin programming mechanism. Wistar pregnant rats were gavaged with ethanol (4 g/kg bw/d) from gestation day (GD) 9-20, and F1 generation was born naturally. The F1 generation female rats in the PEE group were mated with normal male rats to produce F2 generation. Serum and adrenal glands of fetal rats and F1/F2 adult rats were collected at GD20 and postnatal week 28. PEE increased the serum corticosterone level, while diminishing the expression of adrenal steroid synthases of fetal rats. Moreover, PEE enhanced the mRNA expression of GR and HDAC1, but inhibited the mRNA expression of SF1 and reduced the H3K9ac level of P450scc in the fetal adrenal gland. In PEE adult offspring of F1 and F2 generation the serum corticosterone level, the H3K9ac level of P450scc and its expression were decreased in males but were increased in females. In NCI-H295R cells, cortisol reduced the production of endogenous cortisol, down-regulated SF1, and up-regulated HDAC1 expression by activating GR, and decreased H3K9ac level and expression of P450scc. In conclusion, PEE could induce adrenal dysplasia in offspring with sex differences and intergenerational genetic effects, and the adrenal insufficiency in male offspring was related to the induction of low functional genetic programming of P450scc by intrauterine high corticosterone through the GR/SF1/HDAC1 pathway.

The selection and identification of compound housekeeping genes for quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis in rat fetal kidney

During quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) data analysis, the selection of optimal housekeeping gene is necessary to ensure the accuracy of results. It is noteworthy that housekeeping genes commonly used in adult studies may not be applicable for fetus. However, the stability analysis of housekeeping gene in fetal kidney has not been reported. This study intends to screen the applicable compound housekeeping genes in rat fetal kidney. In this study, eight housekeeping genes used in kidney studies based on literature reports (GAPDH, ACTB, 18S, HPRT, YWHAZ, HMBS, PPIA, and TBP) were selected as the research object. Their expression levels in the rat fetal kidney in physiological condition and the intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) model induced by prenatal dexamethasone exposure (PDE) (0.2 mg/kg·day from gestation Days 9 to 20) was measured. Furthermore, these eight housekeeping genes were used to conduct relative quantitative analysis of nephrin expression in the fetal kidney in PDE-induced IUGR model, to compare the influence of choosing different housekeeping gene on data analysis of nephrin expression and to verify the reliability of selected compound housekeeping genes. In this study, stable housekeeping genes of fetal kidney tissues in PDE-induced IUGR model were identified: ACTB, GAPDH, TBP, and HMBS for males; ACTB, YWHAZ, and GAPDH for females. Besides, our results suggest that ACTB + GAPDH were the best compound housekeeping genes for normalization analysis in male fetal kidney studies, and ACTB + YWHAZ in females. This study will provide an experimental evidence basis for the selection of housekeeping genes in the RT-qPCR experiment in renal development toxicology-related models.