INHIBITION OF CELLS IN CULTURE BY POLYAMINES DOES NOT DEPEND ON THE PRESENCE OF RUMINANT SERUM

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 16  (3) , 269-276
Abstract
Using [human] T-lymphocyte (TLC) and granulocyte colony (GC) assays with truly proliferating cells, the inhibitory dose-response relationships of spermine and spermidine in the presence of selected sera were examined. In contrast to previous studies which used [3H]thymidine uptake as an index of proliferation, in vitro inhibition by polyamines was shown to require neither fetal calf serum (FCS) nor the addition of any exogenous polyamine oxidase. Cells grown in the absence of FCS were between 5-50% as sensitive to polyamines as in its presence. Using specific inhibitors of polyamine oxidase, showed that polyamine-elicited mitotic inhibition in the absence of FCS was still dependent on a polyamine oxidase, and the source of the enzyme is the cells themselves.