The lipolytic activities of mitochondrial and microsomal fractions (‘microsomes’) isolated from foetal, suckling and adult rat liver were compared. The catabolism of endogenous phospholipids was followed by measuring the loss of phospholipids and the appearance of non-esterified fatty acids and lysophosphatides. The rate of mitochondrial phospholipid catabolism does not change significantly during development, but the rate of lipolysis of microsomal phospholipids increases 3-fold during development. Balance studies showed that, in mitochondria and microsomes of foetal, suckling and adult rat liver, fatty acid formation is greatly in excess of the fatty acids that can be accounted for by measuring phospholipid disappearance and lysophosphatide appearance. The hypothesis that this excess fatty acid formation resulted from the lipolysis of mitochondrial and microsomal triacylglycerols were tested and confirmed by preliminary experiments. Mitochondria and microsomes isolated from all developmental ages investigated had phospholipases with A1 and A2 activities. The degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids derived from the phospholipids of mitochondria did not vary significantly during development.
