The Effect of Spermidine and Spermine on Proliferation in Vitro of Fibroblasts from Normal and Cystic Fibrosis Patients

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Abstract
Extract: The effects of spermidine and spermine at varying concentrations upon the replicative ability of human fibroblasts in cell culture have been studied. The average concentrations of spermidine causing a 50% inhibition of proliferation (ID50) after 3 days of growth for three normal cell strains and three strains derived from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) were 4.4 × 10−6 ± 1.2 M and 6.2 × 10−6 ± 2.1 M, respectively. The values for spermine were 2.0 × 10−6 ± 0.5 M for normal and 2.2 × 10−6 ± 0.1 M for fibroblasts from cystic fibrosis patients. No significant difference between the replicative ability of normal and CF cell strains was seen over a wide range of polyamine concentrations employed for a period of up to 3 days. Speculation: This work shows no difference in the replicative ability of fibroblasts obtained from normal or CF patients when exposed to spermidine or spermine. We cannot relate the results of this study to recent reports of increased blood cell polyamine levels in cystic fibrosis, but examination of cellular uptake and metabolism of polyamines may allow us to do so in the future.

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