POLYAMINES AND GLUTATHIONE IN LIVERS OF NORMAL RATS OF DIFFERENT AGES AND IN LIVERS OF PREGNANT RATS

Recently we studied the spermine (SP), spermidine (SPD) and glutathione (GSH) content of normal adult albino rat liver and noted the effect of growth of transplantable Rd/3 sarcoma on the levels of these substances in the liver.1 We have now determined the amounts of SP, SPD and GSH in livers of normal male and female albino rats of two younger age groups and have confirmed that variations in polyamine levels with increasing age are similar to those reported by Jänne et al.2 We found that the GSH content of rat liver increased markedly (by about 100 per cent in the case of male rats) from the 5th to 8th week of age. Since the rate of growth of Rd/3 sarcoma is comparable with that of foetal tissue, we examined the effect of pregnancy on the concentrations of SP, SPD and GSH in rat liver. © 1968.