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Updated: Apr 19, 2026
Physiology Lab Demonstration: Glomerular Filtration Rate in a Rat
Published on: July 26, 2015
Effect of prenatal programming and postnatal rearing on glomerular filtration rate in adult rats
German Lozano1, Ayah Elmaghrabi1, Jordan Salley1
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; and.
Insights
A prenatal low-protein diet can lead to high blood pressure and reduced kidney function in adult offspring. However, the postnatal nutritional environment can modify these programming effects.
Area of Science:
- Developmental programming
- Nutritional science
- Renal physiology
Background:
- Prenatal nutrition significantly influences offspring health outcomes.
- Low-protein diets during pregnancy are linked to long-term health issues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if a prenatal low-protein diet programs reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and increased systolic blood pressure (BP).
- To determine if postnatal nutrition can alter these programmed effects on GFR and BP in adult rats.
Main Methods:
- Pregnant rats were fed either a normal (20%) or low-protein (6%) diet during the last half of gestation.
- Offspring were cross-fostered to mothers on different diets to assess postnatal nutritional influences.
- Glomerular filtration rate and systolic blood pressure were measured in mature adult offspring.
Main Results:
- Offspring exposed to a prenatal low-protein diet exhibited significantly higher systolic blood pressure and reduced GFR compared to controls.
- Cross-fostering to a normal postnatal diet normalized GFR and blood pressure in offspring from the low-protein group.
- Postnatal exposure to a low-protein diet, regardless of prenatal diet, resulted in elevated blood pressure.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal low-protein diet induces lasting hypertension and reduced GFR in adult offspring.
- The postnatal nutritional environment plays a critical role in modifying these developmental programming effects.
- Interventions in early life nutrition can potentially mitigate adverse long-term health consequences.
Abstract:
The present study examined whether a prenatal low-protein diet programs a decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and an increase in systolic blood pressure (BP). In addition, we examined whether altering the postnatal nutritional environment of nursing neonatal rats affected GFR and BP when rats were studied as adults. Pregnant rats were fed a normal (20%) protein diet or a low-protein diet (6%) during the last half of pregnancy until birth, when rats were fed a 20% protein diet. Mature adult rats from the prenatal low-protein group had systolic hypertension and a GFR of 0.38 ± 0.03 versus 0.57 ± 0.05 ml·min(-1)·100 g body wt(-1) in the 20% group (P < 0.01). In cross-fostering experiments, mothers continued on the same prenatal diet until weaning. Prenatal 6% protein rats cross-fostered to a 20% mother on day 1 of life had a GFR of 0.53 ± 0.05 ml·min(-1)·100 g body wt(-1), which was not different than the 20% group cross-fostered to a different 20% mother (0.45 ± 0.04 ml·min(-1)·100 g body wt(-1)). BP in the 6% to 20% group was comparable with the 20% to 20% group. Offspring of rats fed either 20% or 6% protein diets during pregnancy and cross-fostered to a 6% mother had elevated BP but a comparable GFR normalized to body weight as the 20% to 20% control group. Thus, a prenatal low-protein diet causes hypertension and a reduction in GFR in mature adult offspring, which can be modified by postnatal rearing.
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