Experimental studies on the involvement of polyamines in cardiac remodeling

Heart failure, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in western countries, is the final outcome of a variety of cardiovascular pathologies, such as myocardial infarction and sustained overload of the heart. Myocardial hypertrophy in response to pathophysiological signals is a predictor of progressive cardiac disease that can result in heart failure. Pioneer studies from this and other laboratories have established a link between the aliphatic polyamines and cardiac hypertrophy, as it emerged that heart polyamine biosynthesis was rapidly stimulated in a number of animal models of cardiac hypertrohy. Recent studies from our laboratory have focused on the involvement of polyamines in various aspects of the remodeling occurring in cardiac diseases, such as growth, death and differentiation of cardiac cells. Polyamine metabolism and effects have been investigated even in relation to some extra- and intracellular signals and biochemical mechanisms involved in these pathophysiological responses. These lines of research have employed both cellular and animal models, comprising cultures of embryo, neonatal and adult cardiomyocytes, cardiomyoblast cell lines and stem cells, as well as wild-type and transgenic animals. In the present paper we have reviewed these studies.