Determination of histamine and polyamines in calcified tissues of mice: Contribution of mast cells and histidine decarboxylase to the amount of histamine in the bone

Summary A simple method for determining histamine and polyamines in various tissues was devised. The method, however, could not be applied to calcified tissues, because the high concentration of Ca²⁺ in the extract interferes with the chromatographic separation of these amines. By treating the extracts from calcified tissues with K₂CO₃, we succeeded in removing the Ca²⁺, and the method could then be applied to determine the amines in bone tissues of mice. By using this method, we examined the contribution of mast cells and histidine decarboxylae (HDC) to the amount of histamine in the bone. The results indicate that (1) the HDC activity in the bone is the highest among the tissues of normal mice, and the histamine produced by the HDC in the bone is metabolized rapidly; (2) a major part of HDC in the bone is present in the bone marrow cells other than mast cells, and most of histamine in the bone is attributable to the histamine pooled in mast cells; (3) mast cells in the diaphysis are located largely along the endosteal lining; and (4) the method devised in this study may be useful for studying the roles of histamine (or mast cells) and polyamines in calcified tissues.     

Role of ornithine decarboxylase and the polyamines in nervous system development: Short-term postnatal administration of α-difluoromethylornithine, an irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase

The role of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and the polyamines in development of central and peripheral catecholaminergic neurons was examined through the use of α-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), a specific irreversible inhibitor of ODC. Short-term postnatal administration of DFMO (500 mg/kg daily on days 1–6) to neonatal rats resulted in effective inhibition of ODC and depletion of both putrescine and spermidine in brain, heart and kidney; after cessation of DFMO administration, polyamine levels returned to normal by 10–13 days of age. There were no signs of generalized toxicity of short-term DFMO treatment, as body weight gains were largely unaffected over the course of study (through weaning). However, development of peripheral sympathetic neurons was severely retarded by DFMO, with persistent and profound deficits of both cardiac and renal norepinephrine; the catecholamine deficiencies were unrelated to effects on end-organ growth, as cardiac weights were essentially normal whereas kidney weights were adversely affected by DFMO. Development of the adrenal medulla, a peripheral catecholaminergic tissue which displays approximately the same developmental profile as do sympathetic neurons but which does not develop axonal projections, was not slowed by DFMO treatment; similarly, central noradrenergic and dopaminergic neurons, which undergo the majority of axonal outgrowth and synaptogenesis during the second to third postnatal week (just after the period in which polyamines returned to control levels), developed normally as assessed by measurements of transmitter levels, tyrosine hydroxylase activity and synaptosomal uptake of [³H]norepinephrine or [³H]dopamine. Extension of the period of DFMO treatment and consequent depletion of polyamines into the period in which central synaptogenesis occurs does, however, produce slowing of development of brain catecholamine neuronal projections. Thus, the ODC/polyamine system appears to play a critical postnatal role in catecholamine systems specifically undergoing active synaptogenesis.     

Role of ornithine decarboxylase and the polyamines in nervous system development: A review

Development of nervous tissue is controlled, in part, by the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC)/polyamine system. Each brain region possesses a unique ontogenetic pattern for ODC, with highest levels of the enzyme associated with periods of most rapid growth. For this reason, perturbation of the ODC profile has proven useful in examinations of teratologic mechanisms and detection of adverse environmental effects during development. More recently, the replication of neuronal cells in developing brain has been shown to require the maintenance of polyamine levels and consequently, depletion of polyamines by alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO, an ODC inhibitor) arrests brain cell maturation. DFMO also interferes with neuronal migration, axonogenesis and synaptogenesis, leading to disruption of the cytoarchitectural organization of brain structures: these results imply a similarly important role for polyamines in post-replicative events. Indeed, [3H]DFMO-autoradiographic localization of ODC in developing cerebellar lamina indicates high levels of activity associated with neuropil, areas of axonal outgrowth, and post-mitotic granule cells. Axonal outgrowth during regeneration after nerve damage in the mature nervous system may display some of the same characteristics as in developing neurons, suggesting that the two processes share common polyamine-dependent mechanisms.     

Identification of polyamines in the cochlea of the rat and their potential role in hearing

The occurrence of reversible hearing loss in patients treated with the polyamine biosynthesis inhibitor, alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), led to the hypothesis that this functional hearing deficit might be due to polyamine depletion in the cochlea. To test this hypothesis the polyamine content (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) of the cochleas of normal rats was measured and compared to that of DFMO-treated rats. For the first time, it was demonstrated that in the cochleas of normal rats there were substantial amounts of spermidine and spermine but no detectable putrescine. There was also no measurable ornithine decarboxylase. The DFMO treatments employed in this study were not effective, however, in depleting the cochlear polyamines to levels generally considered critical for disrupting polyamine-dependent processes in other systems. Thus, it is not surprising that auditory thresholds, which were evaluated using brainstem evoked potentials, remained unaltered in the DFMO-treated rats. Demonstration of a role for polyamines in hearing awaits further investigation with the use of more potent inhibitors or other model systems for hearing.     

多胺对大鼠缺氧-复氧心肌细胞内钙的影响

目的：观察外源性低浓度多胺对大鼠缺氧-复氧心肌细胞钙超载的影响。 方法: 酶解分离大鼠心室肌细胞，用正常氧合Tyrode液灌流8 min, 换为缺氧液灌流32 min, 再转换为正常氧合Tyrode液灌流8 min,复制心肌缺氧-复氧模型。分别在缺氧前给予精胺，缺氧-复氧后给予精胺、精脒、腐胺。应用激光扫描共聚焦显微镜（LSCM）连续观察细胞内钙荧光强度的动态变化。 结果: 精胺（1 mol/L）对正常静息状态下大鼠心室肌［Ca2+］i无影响。缺氧前给予精胺，可取消复氧引起的心肌［Ca2+］i增高；缺氧-复氧后给予精胺、精脒、腐胺对缺氧-复氧引起［Ca2+］i升高也有不同程度的降低作用，其中以精胺的作用最强。复氧后给予精胺降低缺氧-复氧［Ca2+］i 升高的作用小于缺氧前给予。 结论: 缺氧前给予精胺可拮抗缺氧-复氧心肌细胞钙超载发生；复氧后给予精胺可使缺氧-复氧心肌细胞钙超载减轻，但其作用力度不如缺氧前给药。多胺拮抗缺氧-复氧心肌细胞钙超载的作用以精胺＞精脒＞腐胺的顺序递减。     

Effect of α-difluoromethylornithine on cardiac polyamine content and hypertrophy

Cardiac hypertrophy produced by treatment with thyroxine for 7 days was accompanied by a significant increase in polyamine content. Putrescine was elevated by 4- to 5-fold, spermidine by 1.6-fold and spermine 1.3-fold. Administration of α-difluoromethylornithine, a potent irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase, prevented these increases provided that a high concentration of the drug was maintained by intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg/kg body wt every 12 h and supplementation of the drinking water with $\text{3 g of the drug}\text{100 ml}$. Such treatment with α-difluoromethylornithine prevented the rise in spermidine and spermine and reduced putrescine content to undetectable levels but did not prevent the increase in heart weight showing that the enhancement of polyamine concentration is not essential for thyroxine-induced cardiac hypertrophy.     

Ethanol's Effect on Tissue Polyamines and Ornithine Decarboxylase Activity: A Concise Review

An extraordinarily diverse literature describes the cellular/tissue systems in which the molecular effects of both acute and chronic alcohol exposure seem to be mediated by changes in polyamine levels and/or ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity. The single unifying factor that links most of these studies is that they all, in some way, involve tissues that are undergoing relatively rapid cell division. Non-dividing cells expressing the NMDA receptor are a notable exception in that ethanol and the polyamines seem to act via discrete regions of that receptor. Under most cellular conditions, ODC activity is a reflection of the relative tissue polyamine content, and an increase in ODC activity and polyamine content seems to be one of the early events in the progression of quiescent cells toward cell division. Thus, it is not surprising that ethanol, which has been widely reported to delay cell division, should be found to interact with the ODC/ polyamine pathway. Perhaps the most unique aspect of these studies is the fact that, with rare exception, both acute and chronic ethanol exposure have been found to slow growth and to lower tissue polyamine (putrescine) content. Furthermore, in most studies, the ethanol-induced suppression of cell division could be overcome by the administration of exogenous putrescine. These data suggest that the ethanol-induced suppression of cell division resulted from the loss of putrescine. In addition, because the cells were able to respond to the exogenous putrescine, the studies suggest that the signaling pathway remained intact beyond the polyamine synthesis step. Increased ODC activity (and polyamines?) has been reported during the perinatal and postnatal periods in fetal animals exposed to ethanol during early development. Although not examined in all models, the perinatal/postnatal increase in fetal ODC activity may be a compensatory response to an initial loss of ODC activity, as the organism attempted to overcome the alcohol-induced growth suppression.