A dansyl chloride-HPLC method for the determination of polyamines

Daily intake of polyamine-rich Saccharomyces cerevisiae S631 prevents osteoclastic activation and bone loss in ovariectomized mice

An imbalance in the sophisticated regulation between bone-resorbing osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts leads to the pathogenesis and etiology of certain metabolic bone diseases including osteoporosis. Certain polyamines are related to the pathophysiology of some disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, infectious disease, cancer, and aging. Recently, we demonstrated that oral intake of polyamines (spermidine and spermine) prevented bone loss through preferential disturbance of osteoclastic activation in ovariectomy-induced mouse model of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Here, we showed that daily oral supplementation of a diet containing polyamine-rich Saccharomyces cerevisiae S631 significantly inhibited osteoclastic activation as well as reduction of bone volume in the cancellous bone without affecting uterine weight in ovariectomized mice. Our findings recommend that daily oral supplementation with polyamine-rich yeast diet would be beneficial for prophylaxis of metabolic bone diseases associated with abnormal osteoclast activation.

Phenotypic analysis of trypanothione synthetase knockdown in the African trypanosome

Trypanothione plays a pivotal role in defence against chemical and oxidant stress, thiol redox homoeostasis, ribonucleotide metabolism and drug resistance in parasitic kinetoplastids. In Trypanosoma brucei, trypanothione is synthesized from glutathione and spermidine by a single enzyme, TryS (trypanothione synthetase), with glutathionylspermidine as an intermediate. To examine the physiological roles of trypanothione, tetracycline-inducible RNA interference was used to reduce expression of TRYS. Following induction, TryS protein was reduced >10-fold and growth rate was reduced 2-fold, with concurrent 5-10-fold decreases in glutathionylspermidine and trypanothione and an up to 14-fold increase in free glutathione content. Polyamine levels were not significantly different from non-induced controls, and neither was the intracellular thiol redox potential, indicating that these factors are not responsible for the growth defect. Compensatory changes in other pathway enzymes were associated with prolonged suppression of TryS: an increase in trypanothione reductase and gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, and a transient decrease in ornithine decarboxylase. Depleted trypanothione levels were associated with increases in sensitivity to arsenical, antimonial and nitro drugs, implicating trypanothione metabolism in their mode of action. Escape mutants arose after 2 weeks of induction, with all parameters, including growth, returning to normal. Selective inhibitors of TryS are required to fully validate this novel drug target.