Post-weaning high-fat diet accelerates kidney injury, but not hypertension programmed by maternal diabetes.

Background: The aim of this study was to establish the underlying mechanisms by which a post-weaning high-fat diet (HFD) accelerates the perinatal programming of kidney injury occurring in the offspring of diabetic mothers.

Methods: Male mice, offspring of nondiabetic and diabetic dams were fed with normal diet (ND) or HFD from 4 to 20 wk of age. Rat renal proximal tubular cells were used in vitro.

Results: On ND, the offspring of dams with severe maternal diabetes had an intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) phenotype and developed mild hypertension and evidence of kidney injury in adulthood. Exposing the IUGR offspring to HFD resulted in rapid weight gain, catch-up growth, and later to profound kidney injury with activation of renal TGFβ1 and collagen type IV expression, increased oxidative stress, and enhanced renal lipid deposition, but not systemic hypertension. Given our data, we speculate that HFD or free fatty acids may accelerate the process of perinatal programming of kidney injury, via increased CD36 and fatty acid-binding protein 4 expression, which may target reactive oxygen species, nuclear factor-kappa B, and TGFβ1 signaling in vivo and in vitro.

Conclusion: Early postnatal exposure to overnutrition with a HFD increases the risk of development of kidney injury, but not hypertension, in IUGR offspring of dams with maternal diabetes.