# ONTOGENY OF SALT INTAKE

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 1993 · $136,919

## Abstract

Recent work of this laboratory shows that separation of infant rats from
their dam for periods of 6 to 8 hours predisposes them to increased NaCl
intake in adulthood. The increased intake is expressed both when the
animals are sodium deficient and when they are need-free. That is, they
drink more 3% NaCl both in the immediate aftermath of acute sodium
depletion and while they are in positive sodium balance and have no meta-
bolic need for the ingested sodium. The elevated need-free salt intake
persists for the life of the animal, and is greater in females, despite the
ingestion of sodium-rich commercial food, and despite the absence of renal
pathology or of alterations in the plasma levels of the hormones of renal
sodium conservation (angiotensin 11 and aldosterone). It is, in other
words, an animal model of chronic salt overconsumption in man.

The proposed experiments will investigate the biological basis of the
phenomenon by:  1. Specifying the most effective aspect of the maternal
separation.  2. Describing the age of its onset.  3. Testing the adult
consequences of repeated neonatal treatments.  4. Testing the possibility
that it is a result of the operation in infancy of the
angiotensin/aldosterone synergy that is the basis of salt appetite in the
adult rat.  5. And, continuing the studies of the suppression of salt
intake by the tachykinins with emphasis on the ontogeny of their
antinatrorexic effects.

This research is relevant to a significant public health and medical
problem. Sodium overconsumption is common in our population. A lifetime of
excess salt ingestion puts cardiovascular and renal health at risk. Basic
research on the ontogeny of salt intake could result in rational
chemotherapies for salt overconsumption, and in improved infant nutritional
practices that would discourage excess salt ingestion later in life.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2199728
- **Project number:** 5R01HD025857-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** GM1XX56LEP58
- **Principal Investigator:** STEVEN J FLUHARTY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $136,919
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1989-08-01 → 1995-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2199728

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2199728, ONTOGENY OF SALT INTAKE (5R01HD025857-05). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2199728. Licensed CC0.

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