Changes in the composition of fatty acids and lipofuscin-like pigments during development of rat heart.

Postnatal heart development is characterized by critical periods of heart remodeling. In order to characterize the changes in the lipophilic fraction induced by free radicals, fatty acids and their oxidized products, lipofuscin-like pigments (LFP), were investigated. Fatty acids were analyzed by gas chromatography and LFP were studied by fluorescence techniques. A fluorophore characterized by spectral methods was further resolved by HPLC. Major changes in the composition of fatty acids occurred immediately after birth and then during maturation. Fluorescence of LFP changed markedly on postnatal days 1, 4, 8, and 14, and differed from the adult animals. LFP comprise several fluorophores that were present since fetal state till adulthood. No new major fluorophores were formed during development, just the abundances of individual fluorophores have been modulated which produced changes in the shape of the spectral arrays. HPLC resolved the fluorophore with excitation maximum at 360 nm and emission maximum at 410 nm. New chromatographically distinct species appeared immediately on postnatal day 1, and then on days 30 and 60. Consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids immediately after birth and subsequent formation of LFP suggests that oxidative stress is involved in normal heart development.