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Abstract
The level of biosynthesis and the composition of polyglycerophosphatides (phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerolphosphate, and diphosphatidylglycerol or cardiolipin) and phosphatidylinositols were examined in mitochondria and microsomes, respectively, isolated from neonatal and adult rat heart and liver. Biosynthesis of [3H]polyglycerophosphatides ([3H]phosphatidylglycerol and [3H]phosphatidylglycerolphosphate) was 4.5 times higher in neonatal than in adult heart mitochondria, whereas in the respective liver mitochondria this synthesis was only 15% higher in neonatal mitochondria. The biosynthesis of [3H]phosphatidylinositol was twice as high in neonatal as in adult heart microsomes, but very similar in the respective liver microsomes. The major biosynthesized polyglycerophosphatide was [3H]phosphatidylglycerol. The accumulation of [3H]phosphatidylglycerolphosphate depended on the origin of the mitochondria. Under our experimental conditions [3H]phosphatidylinositol was the only synthesized phosphoinositide in all microsomes. The biosynthesis of cardiolipin depended on the origin of the mitochondria and was highest in adult rat liver mitochondria and lowest in adult heart mitochondria. In all cases the biosynthesized [14C,3H]cardiolipin from [14C]phosphatidylglycerol and [3H]CDP-diglycerides had a ratio of 14C/3H around unity. The biosynthesis of [3H]CDP-diglycerides, the key precursor for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and cardiolipin, was 30% higher in neonatal than in adult heart microsomes and very similar in the respective liver microsomes. The subcellular localization of the enzymes required for the biosynthesis of the lipids and liponucleotides examined was found to be the same in membranes isolated from neonatal and adult rat heart and liver