AsianScientist (Jun. 3, 2013) – Conditions in the womb can affect kidney development and have serious health implications for the child decades later, says a new study.
In a paper published in The Lancet, an international team reviewed existing, peer-reviewed research on the effects of the in utero environment on adult health.
The accumulated evidence linked low birth weight and prematurity – risk factors for high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease later in life – with low numbers of the kidney’s filtration units or nephrons.
In Australia, around 30 percent of the adult population has high blood pressure and one in nine have at least one clinical symptom of chronic kidney disease. The incidence of both diseases is significantly higher in Indigenous populations.
“The kidney is particularly sensitive to life before birth because we stop making nephrons at 36 weeks gestation. So, for a baby born at term, the process of nephron formation is finished and it cannot be restarted,” said Professor Bertram, Head of the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University, who has been researching nephrons for two decades.
Humans are born with an average of one million nephrons and lose up to 6,000 each year. However, Bertram’s research has shown there is a huge variance in nephron number – from just over 200,000 to around two million.
“In terms of maternal health during pregnancy, things like a high fat diet, alcohol consumption, various antibiotics and stress hormones have been shown to have a negative impact on fetal kidney development, although more research needs to be done,” Bertram said.
Further, nephron number is positively related to birth weight – a low birth weight equates to low nephron number and larger babies have a higher nephron number. Given that low birth weight occurs in 15 percent of live births worldwide, the study has implications for maternal health and clinical screening processes.
“Although a newborn may appear perfect, if their birth weight is low, there may be consequences 40 years down the line. We could be proactive about detecting these diseases in the early stages.”
The article can be found at: Luyckx VA et al. (2013) Effect of fetal and child health on kidney development and long-term risk of hypertension and kidney disease.
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Source: Monash University; Photo: euthman/Flickr/CC.
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