Purification of rat liver S-adenosyl-L-methionine decarboxylase.

The amount of S-adenosyl-l-methionine decarboxylase present in rat liver was enhanced 17-fold by administration of methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone),* a specific inhibitor of the enzyme. The enzyme was purified 1400-fold in 50% yield from such liver extracts by chromatography on columns of the inhibitor bound to Sepharose. The purified enzyme had no spermidine synthetase activity.