Effect of Spermine on Tissue Oxidations.

Abstract

Little is known of the biological rôle of spermine (N, N′-dipropylamino-diaminobutane) despite its widespread occurrence in mammalian tissues (human semen, bovine pancreas, spleen, thyroid, lung, ovary, brain, ocular tissue, muscle, liver, and intestine). We have isolated spermine from dilute acid extracts of swine duodenal mucosa. The fact that these extracts produce a hyperglycemia in rabbits led us to investigate the effects of the pure base on the blood sugar level. The intramuscular injection of 15–25 mg per kilo of spermine into fasted, male rabbits weighing about 2 kilos, induces a definite and prolonged hyperglycemia. In order to illuminate further the effects of spermine on the intact organism we have undertaken a general study of the action of the base on the respiration of isolated mammalian tissues. The addition of spermine to guinea-pig brain brei suspended in a phosphate-saline medium has little immediate effect on the respiration as measured by the direct Warburg technic. However, in an extensive series of experiments, a slight increase of oxygen consumption in the presence of spermine was noted, especially during the third and fourth hour following the addition of the amine. If glucose is present as a substrate for either brain brei or brain slices (cortex), the addition of spermine causes a marked inhibition of the oxygen consumption (for typical experiments see Table I. Exps. 11, 13, 81). This inhibition (calculated as % inhibition of the extra oxygen consumption due to glucose) shows a tendency to decrease with time, especially when brain slices are used. The averaged data from a series of 8 experiments on brain brei gave values of 75, 74, 73, and 65% inhibition of oxygen consumption by 0.0060 M spermine in each of the 4 thirty-minute periods following addition of the amine.