Abstract: Objective：To investigate the effect of intrauterine environment of fetal growth restriction（FGR） on the development of fetal kidney. Methods：Renal specimens of 11 fetal growth restriction（FGR） cases and 12 non-FGR cases were collected from November 2009 to December 2011 in the department of obstetrics of Tianjin Central Hospital of Gynecology Obstetrics. The mass and volume were calculated first，and the apoptosis rate of cells was analyzed by TUNEL. In addition，the positive expression rate of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in apoptotic cells were also detected. Results：Compared with the non-FGR group，the average volume，quality and number of renal units were significantly decreased in the FGR group （P＜0.01）, while the apoptosis rate of cells was significantly increased （P＜0.01）. The positive expression rate of pro-apoptotic protein Bax in the FGR group cells was significantly increased（P＜0.01），with the expression rate of anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 decreased（P＜0.01） after future detection. Conclusions：Our study indicates that increased apoptosis may effect human kidney development in FGR environment，which is helpful to provide new clues for further exploring the molecular mechanism of FGR and the pathogenesis of adult diseases.

Key words: Fetal growth retardation, Kidney, Apoptosis, Proto-oncogene proteins c-bcl-2, Proto-oncogene proteins