Polyamine-polyamine oxidase interaction: part of maternal protective mechanism against fetal rejection.

Human retroplacental blood serum significantly (p less than 0.01) suppresses the in-vitro uptake of 3H-thymidine--that is, synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid--by spontaneously growing human lymphocytes in the presence of exogenous spermine, but only in concentrations with a higher polyamine oxidase activity than that found in maternal peripheral blood serum during pregnancy. These findings together with observations that the placenta is rich in spermine and that interaction of polyamine oxidase and substrate arrests cell proliferation suggest that such interaction might represent a localised immunoregulatory mechanism in the placental bed, which might contribute to the protection of the fetoplacental unit from possible maternal immune rejection.