scholarly journals Polyamines and their biosynthetic decarboxylases in various tissues of the young rat during recovery from undernutrition

1977 ◽  
Vol 162 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
P A McAnulty ◽  
J P G Williams

1. Weanling male and female rats were undernourished for 4 weeks and then rehabilitated by allowing ad libitum feeding. 2. During rehabilitation polyamine-biosynthetic enzymes were examined in the liver, spleen and quadriceps and gastrocnemius muscles. 3. During the first few hours of rehabilitiation there was a marked increase in liver weight, accompanied by a very marked increase in ornithine decarboxylase activity. Increases in the activity of this enzyme in other tissues did not occur until between 2 and 7 days of rehabilitation, at which time there were further increases in enzyme activity in the liver. 4. S-Adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activity also showed marked fluctuations in activity in all the tissues examined. 5. Hepatic putrescine and spermidine concentrations also varied during rehabilitation, but permine concentration remained relatively constant. Both spermine and spermidine were at normal concentrations in the liver from the 10th days of rehabilitation onwards. 6. In all of the tissues examined there were marked sex differences in the parameters studied, particularly in splenic and muscular ornithine decarboxylase activity. 7. In the tissues of the male rats, changes in polyamine synthesis paralled changes in nucleic acid and protein synthesis.

1977 ◽  
Vol 166 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
A E Pegg

1. Polyamine concentrations were decreased in rats fed on a diet deficient in vitamin B-6. 2. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was decreased by vitamin B-6 deficiency when assayed in tissue extracts without addition of pyridoxal phosphate, but was greater than in control extracts when pyridoxal phosphate was present in saturating amounts. 3. In contrast, the activity of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase was not enhanced by pyridoxal phosphate addition even when dialysed extracts were prepared from tissues of young rats suckled by mothers fed on the vitamin B-6-deficient diet. 4. S-Adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activities were increased by administration of methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) (1,1′-[(methylethanediylidine)dinitrilo]diguanidine) to similar extents in both control and vitamin B-6-deficient animals. 5. The spectrum of highly purified liver S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase did not indicate the presence of pyridoxal phosphate. After inactivation of the enzyme by reaction with NaB3H4, radioactivity was incorporated into the enzyme, but was not present as a reduced derivative of pyridoxal phosphate. 6. It is concluded that the decreased concentrations of polyamines in rats fed on a diet containing vitamin B-6 may be due to decreased activity or ornithine decarboxylase or may be caused by an unknown mechanism responding to growth retardation produced by the vitamin deficiency. In either case, measurements of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase and ornithine decarboxylase activity under optimum conditions in vitro do not correlate with the polyamine concentrations in vivo.


1987 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bouclier ◽  
A. Jomard ◽  
N. Kail ◽  
B. Shroot ◽  
C. Hensby

We use a mutant hairless Sprague Davvley rat to evaluate the capacity of retinoids to inhibit the epidermal ornithine decarboxylase activity induced by sellotape stripping. In order to minimize the variability introduced by the animals in our model we decided to validate the hairless rats used. A number of animal parameters were examined using a single lot of 50 males and 50 females aged from 4 to 11 weeks and acclimatized to laboratory conditions. The body weight growth curves were established. Nude animals present two periods of hair growth, the first at 6-7 weeks and the second at about 10-11 weeks. Hair development is more pronounced in males. No histological change was observed in the stratum corneum but an increase in epidermal thickness was noted in males aged 9 weeks. Removal of the stratum corneum by sellotape stripping was more effective and reproducible in the females, as determined histologically. Sellotape-stripping induction of ornithine decarboxylase in the epidermis was higher in rats aged 5-6 weeks and reached a plateau in animals aged 6-12 weeks. Individual variations obtained were lower in females (about 5%-10% in females and 10%-20% in males). The present research suggests that female rats aged about 8 weeks provide maximum reproducibility of response and ease of use.


1981 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. F. Schaible ◽  
S. Penpargkul ◽  
J. Scheuer

The purpose of the present study was to determine if contractile function adapts to physical training in the same way in hearts of male and female rats. Male and female rats were trained with a running program sufficient to cause equal increases in cytochrome oxidase activity in gastrocnemius muscles in both groups. Hearts were then studied in an isolated perfused working rat heart apparatus with varying preloads and fixed afterloads. Five groups were studied: 1) free-eating sedentary males (MS-FE); 2) running males (MR); 3) sedentary females (FS); 4) running females (FR); and 5) food-restricted sedentary; males (MS-FR). Heart weights were similar in MS-FE and MR and in FS, FR, and MS-Fr. Stroke work, stroke volume, coronary flow, and myocardial oxygen consumption were significantly higher in MR than in MS-FE but were almost identical in FR and FS. MS-FR showed stroke work, stroke volume, and ejection fractions that were similar to MR but higher than MS-FE and both female groups. Thus when hearts of equal weights were compared, a training effect was only seen in males. These results suggest that despite similar skeletal muscle adaptations, hearts of male rats adapt to physical training by running with improved intrinsic performance, whereas hearts of female rats do not.


1984 ◽  
Vol 219 (3) ◽  
pp. 811-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Käpyaho ◽  
A Kallio ◽  
J Jänne

2-Difluoromethylornithine totally prevented any increases in putrescine and spermidine concentrations in the ventral prostate of castrated rats during a 6-day testosterone treatment. Prostatic ornithine decarboxylase activity was inhibited by 80%, whereas S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase was stimulated by more than 9-fold. In seminal vesicle, the inhibition of putrescine and spermidine accumulation, as well as of ornithine decarboxylase activity, was only minimal, and no stimulation of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase was observed. Administration of methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) to castrated androgen-treated rats resulted in a marked increase in concentrations of all prostatic polyamines. Prostatic ornithine decarboxylase activity was nearly 2 times and adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activity 9 times higher than that of the testosterone-treated animals. In contrast with ventral prostate, methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) treatment inhibited moderately the accumulation of spermidine and spermine in seminal vesicle, although both ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activities were stimulated. Difluoromethylornithine inhibited significantly the weight gain of ventral prostate, but methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) produced a substantial increase in prostatic weight. These changes were largely due to the fact that the volume of prostatic secretion was greatly decreased by difluoromethylornithine, whereas methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) increased the amount of secretion. Treatment with difluoromethylornithine strikingly increased the methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) content of both ventral prostate and seminal vesicle, but even under these conditions the drug concentration remained low in comparison with other tissues. The results indicate that a combined use of these two polyamine anti-metabolites does not necessarily result in a synergistic growth inhibition of the androgen-induced growth of male accessory sexual glands.


1980 ◽  
Vol 190 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Brosnan ◽  
Barbara V. Roebothan ◽  
Douglas E. Hall

1. Concentrations of polyamines, amino acids, glycogen, nucleic acids and protein, and activities of ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, were measured in livers from control, streptozotocin-diabetic and insulin-treated diabetic rats. 2. Total DNA per liver and protein per mg of DNA were unaffected by diabetes, whereas RNA per mg of DNA and glycogen per g of liver were decreased. Insulin treatment of diabetic rats induced both hypertrophy and hyperplasia, as indicated by an increase in all four of these constituents to or above control values. 3. Spermidine content was increased in the livers of diabetic rats, despite the decrease in RNA, but it was further increased by insulin treatment. Spermine content was decreased by diabetes, but was unchanged by insulin treatment. Thus the ratio spermidine/spermine in the adult diabetic rat was more typical of that seen in younger rats, whereas insulin treatment resulted in a ratio similar to that seen in rapidly growing tissues. 4. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was variable in the diabetic rat, showing a positive correlation with endogenous ornithine concentrations. This correlation was not seen in control or insulin-treated rats. Insulin caused a significant increase in ornithine decarboxylase activity relative to control or diabetic rats. 5. S-Adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activity was increased approx. 2-fold by diabetes and was not further affected by insulin. 6. Hepatic concentrations of the glucogenic amino acids, alanine, glutamine and glycine were decreased by diabetes. Their concentrations and that of glutamate were increased by injection of insulin. Concentrations of ornithine, proline, leucine, isoleucine and valine were increased in livers of diabetic rats and were decreased by insulin. Diabetes caused a decrease in hepatic concentration of serine, threonine, lysine and histidine. Insulin had no effect on serine, lysine and histidine, but caused a further fall in the concentration of threonine.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document