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Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, California 95616
Kidney development was studied in the progeny of both control and protein-deficient rats from birth to 90 days after birth. Retarded development in the kidneys of deficient progeny was indicated by reduced weight, cell number and nephron number. Increased postnatal nutrient intake, achieved by raising pups in litters of four animals, resulted in an increase in kidney cell number which was temporary in the progeny of deficient dams. The increase in cell number occurred in existing nephrons and did not appear to involve the formation of new nephrons. An increase in proximal convoluted tubule length occurred during the suckling period in kidneys of deficient progeny raised in small litters compared to those raised in normal-sized litters. The data suggest that the progeny of protein-deficient rats show a permanent retardation in kidney development which is not reversed by increased postnatal nutrient intake. A deficit of nephron number is specifically involved.
KEY WORDS: kidney protein litter size development
1 Supported in part by Public Health Service Research Grant no. HD-03158 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
2 Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Atlantic City, 1972.
Manuscript received 19 January 1973.