The effect of spermidine and spermine on proliferation in vitro of fibroblasts from normal and cystic fibrosis patients.

The effects of spermidine and spermine at varying concentrations upon the replicative 
ability of human fibroblasts in cell culture have been studied. The 
average concentrations of spermidine causing a 50% inhibition of prolifertion (ID50) 
after 3 days of growth for three normal cell strains and 
three strains derived from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) were 4.4 
X 10(-6) +/- 1.2 M and 6.2 X 10(-6) +/- 2.1 
M, respectively. The values for spermine were 2.0 X 10(-6) +/- 
0.5 M for normal and 2.2 X 10(-6) +/- 0.1 M 
for fibroblasts from cystic fibrosis patients. No significant difference between the 
replicative ability of normal and CF cell strains was seen over 
a wide range of polyamine concentrations employed for a period of 
up to 3 days. 