Mitochondrial respiration is decreased in rat kidney following fetal exposure to a maternal low-protein diet

Maternal protein restriction in rat pregnancy is associated with impaired renal development and age-related loss of renal function in the resulting offspring. pregnant rats were fed either control or low-protein (lp) diets,and kidneys from their male offspring were collected at 4,13,or 16 weeks of age. mitochondrial state 3 and state 4 respiratory rates were decreased by a third in the lp exposed adults. the reduction in mitochondrial function was not explained by complex iv deficiency or altered expression of the complex i subunits that are typically associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. similarly,there was no evidence that lp-exposure resulted in greater oxidative damage to the kidney,differential expression of atp synthetase β-subunit,and atp-adp translocase 1. mrna expression of uncoupling protein 2 was increased in adult rats exposed to lp in utero,but there was no evidence of differential expression at the protein level. exposure to maternal undernutrition is associated with a decrease in mitochondrial respiration in kidneys of adult rats. in the absence of gross disturbances in respiratory chain protein expression,programming of coupling efficiency may explain the long-term impact of the maternal diet. © 2012 sarah engeham et al.