What is it about?

In the fetus, fatty acids are in short supply and the heart primarily burns carbohydrates for energy. At birth, circulating fatty acids become abundant and the heart preferentially uses these for energy. Misregulation of cardiac metabolism contributes to significant disease. What signals direct the fetal heart to prepare the cellular machinery to take up and use lipids is poorly understood.

Why is it important?

Maturation of cardiac metabolism is important especially in the context of preterm birth when the usual signals to the heart and nutrients are disrupted.

Find this paper at Physiological Reports and Pubmed.