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The effect of malnutrition on the pattern of growth in the rat kidney and the renal response to acidosis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 January 2011
Abstract
1. The kidneys of normal rats were analysed for water, fat, protein, RNA and DNA, at 10, 21 and 36 d after birth. The effects on growth caused by two types of malnutrition were investigated.
2. An increase in the RNA:DNA ratio was demonstrated between 10 and 36 d, contrary to previous evidence that this ratio is fixed at birth.
3. Energy deficiency during the first 21 d of life resulted mainly in fewer kidney cells, whereas protein-energy deficiency between 21 and 36 d resulted mainly in a smaller cellular content of RNA and protein.
4. In response to metabolic acidosis, both groups of malnourished rats increased urinary excretion of ammonia and there was enhanced gluconeogenesis in vitro; the basal rate of gluconeogenesis was lower in the protein-energy-deficient rats than in the controls.
5. Protein-energy-deficient rats did not exhibit the renal hypertrophy shown by the control rats in response to acidosis.
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- Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1974
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