Changes in polyamine metabolism during glucocorticoid-induced programmed cell death in mouse thymus
Author
Summary, in English
When mice are injected with dexamethasone, cortical thymocytes are deleted through programmed cell death (PCD). We have used this in vivo model system to investigate the kinetics of PCD and cell proliferation in relation to polyamine metabolism for 16 h after injection of dexamethasone. As a marker for PCD, we used the appearance of a sub-G(1)peak in the DNA histogram. When a sub-G(1)peak appeared at 4 h after dexamethasone treatment, the activity of the polyamine catabolic enzyme spermidine/spermine N(1)-acetyltransferase (SSAT) was significantly increased and the activity of the polyamine biosynthetic enzyme S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) was significantly decreased compared to the activities found in the thymi of control mice. Despite the significant changes in the activities of SSAT and AdoMetDC, the only change in the polyamine pool during the experimental period was that of putrescine. Presumably the complexity of this in vivo system masks changes in the spermidine and spermine pools that were expected in relation to the increased SSAT activity and decreased AdoMetDC activity.
Department/s
Publishing year
2000
Language
English
Pages
871-880
Publication/Series
Cell Biology International
Volume
24
Issue
12
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Elsevier
Topic
- Cancer and Oncology
Keywords
- apoptosis
- polyamines
- thymus
- glucocorticoid
- flow cytometry
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1095-8355