Fluctuations of unbound whole blood polyamine levels during the menstrual cycle.

Perchloric acid-extractable whole blood spermidine and spermine concentrations were determined over a 4-week period in three men, four women, and one ovariectomized woman. Individual male spermidine/spermine ratios showed little fluctuation and similar values were obtained for each of the three males studied. Male spermidine and spermine concentrations, although stable for each male, varied from one subject to the next. Individual female spermidine/spermine ratios, as well as individual concentrations, fluctuated substantially when compared to those valued obtained for males; female ratios appear to rise and fall as a function of the menstrual cycle. The spermidine/spermine ratios obtained from a normal female receiving oral contraceptive, as well as those from an ovariectomized female, were characteristic of values obtained form men. It is suggested that a sex-related hormone(s) influences sperimidine and spermine concentrations in females.