162 The Biochemistry of Semen 



succeeded in preparing a number of derivatives of spermine includ- 

 ing the hydrochloride, but who unfortunately deduced from his 

 analyses the wrong formula for the base, C2H5N. In consequence of 

 this, spermine was confused with ethyleneamine, CoH^NH, and with 

 piperazine. For years to follow, piperazine was offered by a large 

 pharmaceutical firm in Berlin under the trade name of 'Spermin', 

 and as late as 1903 the formula of piperazine appeared under the 

 name of spermine in Thierfelder's Hoppe-Seyler' s Handbuch der 

 chemischen Analyse. A great advocate of the manifold curative pro- 

 perties of 'real' spermine, i.e. as isolated from human semen, bull 

 testes, or other organs, was Alexander von Poehl, who believed in the 

 'action of spermine as a physiological tonic on auto-intoxications' 

 (1893), and who is best known for the monograph Die physiologisch- 

 chemischen Grundlagen der Spermintheorie which he published in 

 St. Petersburg in 1898. Poehl's book contains the records of numer- 

 ous cases ranging from scurvy to syphilis, treated, apparently suc- 

 cessfully, with the 'Sperminum Poehl'. His pharmacological and 

 clinical work aroused much controversy, was subjected to severe 

 criticism, and was finally altogether rejected. Yet, it is not entirely 

 improbable that there is some justification for Poehl's 'spermine 

 theory'. Apart from its general pharmacodynamic properties similar 

 to those of other biological polyamines (Guggenheim, 1940), sper- 

 mine may well possess some other, more specific pharmacological 

 activity. Administered parenterally, spermine is known to be 

 toxic to mice, rats and rabbits (Rosenthal, Fisher and Stohlman, 

 1952). It has also been shown to possess bacteriostatic properties. 

 The inhibition of the growth of Staphylococcus aureus by human 

 seminal plasma can be attributed, according to Gurevitch and his 

 colleagues (1951), to the high content of spermine in human semen. 

 Another striking example of the growth-inhibiting action of sper- 

 mine has been provided by Hirsch and Dubos (1952); following up 

 an observation that the extraction of animal tissues with mixtures of 

 water and ethanol yields material with tuberculostatic activity in 

 vitro, these authors isolated from tissue extracts a crystalline anti- 

 mycobacterial substance which they found to be identical with 

 spermine phosphate. 



Leaving aside Poehl's pharmacological observations, one must 

 nevertheless appreciate his contribution to the chemistry of spermine. 



