Polyamine metabolism in rat myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.

This study was focused on investigating the involvement of polyamine metabolism in the myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) in an in vivo rat model. A branch of the descending left coronary artery was occluded for 30 min followed by 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h reperfusion. Then the expression of spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase (SSAT) and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and the concentrations of polyamines were assessed. It was found that the expression of SSAT and ODC were upregulated after reperfusion and the concentrations of spermidine and spermine were significantly decreased, while putrescine concentration was significantly increased. The results suggest that MIRI may cause disturbance of polyamine metabolism, and it may play a critical role in MIRI.