Historically, gramicidin was the first antibiotic drug, although its systemic use in clinical practice was prevented by the high toxicity for eukaryotic cells. Comprehensive examination of gA as the first channel with an exactly characterized molecular structure was aimed mostly at elucidating the mechanism of ionic channel operation and peptide interaction with lipid membrane environment. The studies of gA and its engineered analogues have produced a large body of basic knowledge and, moreover, substantially advanced a variety of experimental approaches. In the present work, we described the newly synthesized gA peptide exhibiting very low toxicity towards eukariotic cells, which is obviously associated with suppressed conductivity of the peptide for potassium and sodium ions. Remarkably, the protonophoric activity of gA resulted in mitochondria uncoupling at the peptide concentrations which appeared to be practically nonpoisonous for mammalian cells. Bearing in mind that partial uncoupling is known to protect mitochondria from oxidative stress and produce a beneficial effect on organisms against obesity, gA can be considered as a prototype of a new class of peptide therapeutic agent. Adolescent and adult women of childbearing age in the United States of America have a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency. This insufficiency is likely related to diet and is gaining recognition as a public health problem. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency is high even in sunny climates, such as Brazil’s, principally in adolescents. Vitamin D is critical for the development of the nervous system and immunological functions during fetal development. Vitamin D during the pregnancy is important to both maternal skeletal preservation and fetal skeletal formation. However, new evidence suggests that vitamin D could be vital to normal fetal development and that vitamin D restriction in this period may affect chronic disease susceptibility post-natal life. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that this restriction can generate “genomic imprinting” in the fetus, which is related to the genesis of chronic diseases in adulthood. Moreover, vitamin D is associated with premature births, obesity and renal dysfunction in adulthood, making it more than an essential fat-soluble vitamin responsible for calcium metabolism. Normal development of the kidney is a highly complex process that requires precise cellular proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Among the essential regulators of kidney development are components of the renin-angiotensin system, podocin and the Wilms’ tumor suppressor gene WT1. Vitamin D restriction during pregnancy and throughout lactation in rats is associated with an increased number of glomeruli and decreased renal corpuscle size among offspring, although the causes and GDC-0879 consequences of this abnormal kidney phenotype remain unknown. Therefore, the adverse effects of vitamin D restriction during kidney development need further exploration. This study investigates the effects of maternal vitamin D deficiency on glomerular development in early postnatal life and its effects on renal structure at maturity. This study focuses on the F1 and F2 generations after F0 maternal vitamin D restriction. Micronutrient deficiency during development, such as maternal vitamin D deficiency, is a subject of increasing importance because of the nutritional deficiencies caused by excessive consumption of junk food during pregnancy. However, vitamin D insufficiency is still under-recognized and under-treated, despite its prevalence. A recent study of pregnant women in Europe reported that only 12% had an optimal level of vitamin D.