Schematic representation of proposed fetal programming consequences in cells of the renal corpuscles from adult rats.

<p>Gestational low protein diet leads to a reduction of 27% in nephron number and adult hypertension. We suppose that glomeruli overload is an initial insult that starts a cascade of events including an early inflammatory phase followed by a fibrogenic response. The downregulation of the microRNA-200 family, in response to enhanced TGFβ 1 expression, results in the reduction of epithelial markers and enhancement in mesenchymal markers and in ZEB 2, an EMT mediator. Podocytes will undergo EMT to escape apoptosis, which results in podocyte simplification, which leads to an impaired glomerular filtration barrier ensuring the onset of proteinuria. Depending of the severity and duration of injury, there may be a podocyte loss exacerbating proteinuria. PECs will also undergo EMT for differentiation into new podocytes in an attempt to attenuate the glomerular function loss (modified from Liu, 2010) <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0071310#pone.0071310-Liu1" target="_blank">[5]</a>.