Cardiac and renal effects in rats offspring subjected to protein restriction during gestation and lactation: influence of enriched environment on these effects

• Grant number: 15/00360-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2015
• Effective date (End): February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - General Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Jose Antonio Rocha Gontijo
• Grantee: Ana Leticia Luchiari Ferrari
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07607-8 - OCRC - Obesity and Comorbidities Research Center, AP.CEPID

Abstract

During embryonic, fetal and neonatal development the organism is provided with phenotypic plasticity in front to environmental variations. Thus, exposure to adverse environmental factors during development shapes proliferation and cell differentiation, and it may cause long-term anthropometric effects on behavioral and metabolic functions. In a opposite way, exposure to stimulating and enriched environments in the postnatal period may reverse those changes, at least partially, resulted from intrauterine implications. From these observations, it has been suggested that: 1. the kidney is involved in blood pressure elevation in rats programmed by gestational stress; 2. the heart of these animals may show abnormalities that precede the pressure development; 3. the in utero environment modifies the genotype expression of species and, 4. and also that LP offspring of animals have functional and morphological early renal changes, before the pressure development; this evidence may suggest the hipothesis that intrauterine changes during the ontogenetic period, may be related to kidney and heart structural and functional changes, observed in this model. However, there are no studies searching if the exposure to enriched environments modify these possible cardiac and renal disorders to offspring LP animals. These and other questions remains unanswered, such as: How in utero exposure change renal ontogenesis in LP? (2) The expression of RAAS during pregnancy modify renal embryonic development and interferes on the heart and nephrons morphogenesis in LP? (3) The expression levels of the Angiotensin II in this strain modulate embryonic development of the kidney? (4) The expression of AT1 and AT2 receptors are involved in the genesis of cardiac and renal ontogenic changes? (5) The expression of SOCS-3 may be involved in the normal modulation of the kidney ontogeny, as already observed in this model modifications, and in the development of a possible early maturation of nephrons and myocardical hypertrophy/fibrosis in this animal? (6) The early exposure of these animals just after weaning to enriched environments in this experimental model, can modulate the possible changes suggested above? Therefore, will be investigated the expression and localization of receptors and components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and tissue fibrosis (TGF-², collagen, fibronectin) and the parallel occurrence of hypertension, proteinuria and glomerulus-tubular dysfunction, with order to clarify the possible inflection point of these abnormalities during the temporal evolution of this exposed or not to enriched environment model. The role of in utero nutritional stress on the heart and kidney morphometry, in different periods of study, will also be assessed by stereological analysis.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARIANO, VINICIUS SCHIAVINATTO; BOER, PATRICIA ALINE; GONTIJO, JOSE ANTONIO ROCHA. Fetal Undernutrition Programming, Sympathetic Nerve Activity, and Arterial Hypertension Development. FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY, v. 12, NOV 17 2021. (15/00360-2, 13/12486-5)

LAMANA, GABRIELA LEME; FERRARI, ANA LETICIA LUCHIARI; GONTIJO, JOSE ANTONIO ROCHA; BOER, PATRICIA ALINE. Gestational and Breastfeeding Low-Protein Intake on Blood Pressure, Kidney Structure, and Renal Function in Male Rat Offspring in Adulthood. FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY, v. 12, APR 22 2021. (13/12486-5, 15/00360-2)