Polyamines in cardiac physiology and disease.

The natural diamine putrescine and polyamines spermidine and spermine belong to a family of low-molecularweight organic polycations that are classically known to be important mediators of cell growth, proliferation and division. Several studies are nowadays available about the involvement of polyamines in various aspects - such as growth, differentiation and death - of cardiac cells, under physiological and pathological conditions. Polyamine metabolism and effects, and their relation with a number of extracellular signals and intracellular transductional cascades, have been investigated in cellular and animal models - comprising cultures of embryo, neonatal and adult primary cardiomyocytes, heart-derived cell lines, and stem cells, as well as wild-type and transgenic animals. Significant evidence for their critical role in (mal)adaptive cardiac (patho)physiology emerges from this extensive literature suggesting that, in principle, polyamine metabolism may constitute a target for treatment of cardiovascular di seases. In the present paper we have reviewed these studies.