CHANGES OF POLYAMINE METABOLISM IN HL-60 CELLS DURING THE INDUCTION OF DIFFERENTIATION BY RETINOIC ACID AND DIMETHYLSULFOXIDE

The polyamines putrescine, spermidine and spermine have been implicated in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation. In this study, the changes of intracellular polyamine contents and activity of ornithine decarboxylase, a rate-limiting enzyme in the polyamine synthetic pathway, were studied. The results showed that both retinoic acid (RA) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) could elevate intracellular putrescine level by more than 2-fold over control value, then it declined gradually. In RA-treated cells, transient increase in spermidine and spermine levels was noted. In contrast, the spermidine and spermine levels in DMSO-treated cells declined to about 50% of the level of control cells at 96 h. The measurement of ornithine decarboxylase activity demonstrated that the increase of intracellular putrescine in RA and DMSO treated cells was due to the polyamine synthesis by inducing ornithine decarboxylase which reached 2 to 4-fold higher over basic level at 2 h, and above 6-fold at 16 h. These results suggest that the polyamine metabolism may be involved in RA and DMSO-induced granulocytic differentiation of HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells.