Effects of methotrexate and cyclophosphamide on polyamine levels in various tissues of rats

The effects of methotrexate (MTX) and cyclophosphamide (CYP) on body weight, organ weight, and the concentration of putrescine, spermidine, and spermine in 14 different tissues were measured in rats that had been given these compounds for 5 consecutive days. These three polyamines in both the thymus and spleen of rats treated with MTX and CYP showed a statistically significant decrease. Further, putrescine in the seminal vesicles, kidney, liver, and small intestine of MTX-treated rats, and in the prostate, seminal vesicles, kidney, heart, liver, small intestine, and lung of CYP-treated rats, spermidine in the prostate, seminal vesicles, testis, thymus, spleen, kidney, heart, small intestine, and skeletal muscle of CYP-treated rats, and spermine in the prostate, seminal vesicles, kidney, heart, small intestine, and stomach of CYP-treated rats showed statistically significant decreases. Recognition of the significance of polyamine levels and attention to their response in anti-cancer drug therapy may have clinical implications.