Assay of N<br> 8-Acetylspermidine Deacetylase

N ⁸ -Acetylspermidine deacetylase is a cytoplasmic enzyme found in a wide variety of tissues in higher organisms (1 ). This enzyme catalyzes the deacetylation of polyamines N -acetylated on the terminal ammo group on the 4-carbon end of the molecule. Thus, N ⁸ -acetylspermidine and N -acetylputrescine are substrates for this enzyme, whereas polyamines acetylated on aminopropyl groups, such as N ¹ -acetylspermidine and N -acetylspermine, are not substrates (2 ). The metabolism of these latter molecules, acetylated on aminopropyl groups, is catalyzed by polyamine oxidase and does not involve a simple deacetylation, but instead there is an oxidative cleavage of the entire acetylated aminopropyl group to yield putrescine or spermidine (3 ,4 ).