Perinatal nutritional modification of weanling rat heart contractile protein.

The present study ascertained the influence of litter-size-induced perinatal nutritional modification on cardiac contractile protein enzymatic activity and isomyosin composition. Myofibrillar enzyme activities for Mg2+ -ATPase, Ca2+ -ATPase, and creatine kinase (CK) in the weanling heart were unaltered by nutritional modification. However, these enzyme activities were all significantly augmented in the adult heart. Hill plot analyses of Mg2+ -ATPase activities indicated that myofibrillar calcium regulation was not influenced by either nutritional modification or the weanling-to-adult developmental progression. Isomyosin V1 composition (90 +/- 1%) correlated with plasma thyroid hormone level in normal-growth (8/litter) weanlings. Undernutrition retarded conversion of V3 isomyosin to the V1 species while overnutrition enhanced isomyosin conversion. Isomyosin composition in weanling rats subjected to perinatal nutritional modification was independent of thyroid status. In the adult rat, plasma thyroxine levels were increased, whereas V1 isomyosin remained unchanged (88 +/- 2%) compared with that of the weanling groups. Discrepancies in the relationship between contractile protein enzymatic activities, myosin composition, and heart function are apparent between both the litter-size-adjusted weanling rats and between weanling and adult animals. These discrepancies indicate the complex relationship between heart function and contractile protein properties.