Metabolomic approach to foetal and neonatal heart

Metabolomics is an emerging and powerful technology that provides an accurate and dynamic picture of the phenotype of mammalian systems through the study of endogenous and exogenous metabolites in their tissues or body fluids. In the last 10 years, an increase in the number of papers about metabolomics applied to cardiovascular risk factors and diseases has been observed. Anyway, the majority of these studies involved adult patients. In this article, all the up to now examples of metabolomics applied to the study of cardiovascular physiology, disease onset and progression during foetal and neonatal life have been reviewed. An outlook of the requirements for future researches has been also discussed.