Hypernatremia in twin lambs is a time-limited phenomenon and correlates with rapid catch-up growth

Background: Because twins are of lower weight at birth than singletons, they have been used repeatedly as a model for investigating proposed prenatal origins of adult disease. A recent study on 3-week-old twin lambs suggested programmed hypernatremia as a potential mechanism for sodium-dependent hypertension. To test the hypothesis that such hypernatremia is associated with rapid catch-up growth, a longitudinal analysis on lambs from twin and triplet pregnancies was performed. Methods: We studied 15 twin or triplet lambs from Merino ewes, which were provided with food and water ad libitum before and after delive…