Substances known or suspected to cause subtle or transient anatomical alterations in renal development were administered prenatally or neonatally to rats in order to determine whether they are capable of altering renal functional development. Colchicine alters mitotic activity and cytoskeletal structure and is teratogenic in many species. Since the kidney of the newborn rat undergoes extensive cellular proliferation and nephron differentiation, it is possible that neonatal administration of colchine may affect nephron development. Dinoseb and methyl salicylate have previously been reported to produce a high incidence of dilated renal pelvis in the term rat fetus. Colchicine was injected sc, at 75 micrograms/kg, to Postnatal Day (PD) 1 Sprague-Dawley rats. Dinoseb was administered ip to pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats on Gestation Days 10-12 at doses of 8 or 10.5 mg/kg/day, and methyl salicylate was administered ip at doses of 200, 250, or 300 mg/kg/day on Gestation Days 11-12. Renal function was examined in pups from immediately after birth through weaning. (Copyright (c) 1988 by the Society of Toxicology.)