title: Prenatal programming of hypertension in the rat: effect of postnatal rearing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dietary protein deprivation during pregnancy causes hypertension in offspring when they become adults. This study examined if postnatal rearing had an effect on blood pressure and glomerular number in male rats whose mothers were fed either a control diet or a low protein diet.
  
  
  METHODS
  Neonates were cross fostered at 1 day of age to a different mother. After birth, all nursing and weaned rats were fed a control diet. Blood pressure and glomerular number were measured in adult offspring.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Control rats cross fostered to another control mother had a lower blood pressure than low protein rats cross fostered to another low protein mother (133 ± 4 vs. 151 ± 4 mm Hg, p < 0.05) and a greater number of glomeruli (28,388 ± 989 vs. 25,045 ± 851, p < 0.05). Fostering pups from the 20% group to mothers that were fed a 6% diet during pregnancy did not cause hypertension or a reduction in the number of glomeruli. However, fostering the 6% group on to mothers that were fed a 20% protein diet during pregnancy resulted in normalization of the blood pressure and number of glomeruli.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The hypertension and reduced glomerular number resulting from prenatal dietary protein deprivation can be normalized by improving the postnatal environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Tex., USA.
authors.forename: Sabeen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Habib
authors.forename: Qiuyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baum