Resilience to acute kidney injury in offspring of maternal protein restriction

Protein restriction (PR) during pregnancy induces morphofunctional alterations related to deficient nephrogenesis. We studied the renal functional and morphological significance of PR during pregnancy and/or lactation in adult male rat offspring and the repercussions on acute kidney injury (AKI) severity. Female rats were randomly assigned to the following groups: control diet during pregnancy and lactation (CC), control diet during pregnancy and PR diet during lactation (CR), PR during pregnancy and control diet during lactation (RC), and PR during pregnancy and lactation (RR). Three months after birth, at least 12 male offspring of each group randomly underwent either bilateral renal ischemia for 45 min [ischemia-reperfusion (IR)] or sham surgery. Thus, eight groups were studied 24 h after reperfusion: CC, CC + IR, CR, CR + IR, RC, RC + IR, RR, and RR + IR. Under basal conditions, the CR, RC, and RR groups exhibited a significant reduction in nephron number that was associated with a reduction in renal blood flow. Glomerular hyperfiltration was present as a compensatory mechanism to maintain normal renal function. mRNA levels of several vasoactive, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory molecules were decreased. After IR, renal function was similarly reduced in all of the studied groups. Although all of the offspring from maternal PR exhibited renal injury, the magnitude was lower in the RC and RR groups, which were associated with faster renal blood flow recovery, differential vasoactive factors, and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α signaling. Our results show that the offspring from maternal PR are resilient to AKI induced by IR that was associated with reduced tubular injury and a differential hemodynamic response.