Grant: Project Grant

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most common nutritional disorder in the world, and pregnant women and young children are most at risk. The WHO estimates 38% of pregnant women globally have anemia, and most of these cases are attributed to ID. We have shown that offspring exposed to ID during pregnancy have a greater risk of high blood pressure and kidney damage in later life. Due to its tendency to affect pregnant women, ID may be an important contributor to the global burdens of heart and kidney diseases. Yet little is known about how ID affects growth and development of the fetus and newborn, and without this knowledge, devising new treatments is challenging. The goal of our work is to study how ID negatively affects the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) in kidneys of newborns. We focus on the kidneys because they are particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of ID during development. What is more, the kidneys play an important role in blood pressure control, and insults that affect their development, even if short-lived, can lead to lasting health problems. We study the offspring at various ages after they recover from ID to see how the kidneys work at various stages throughout life. The final goal is to test a new treatment, which targets and improves mitochondrial function, to determine if its use during pregnancy can prevent the short- and long-term health complications of ID in the offspring.