Cytofluorescence localization of adriamycin in the nervous system. II. Distribution of the drug in the somatic and autonomic peripheral nervous systems of normal adult mice after intravenous injection.

By a fluorescence-microscopic technique, the distribution of the antineoplastic glycoside adriamycin (doxorubicin) was studied in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) of normal adult mice after i.v. injection. Doses comparable to those used in patients for treatment of malignant diseases were used. The orange-red fluorescence of the drug was observed in dorsal root ganglia, in the trigeminal ganglia, and in the superior cervical sympathetic ganglia where it was preferentially accumulated in the nuclei of satellite cells. This nuclear labeling was a very quick process which occurred in the superior cervical ganglion within 15 s after the injection. Adriamycin-fluorescent nuclei were also observed in the suprarenal medulla. Fluorescent nuclei were present within the pre- and postganglionic sympathetic nerve trunks close to the superior cervical ganglion but not in the endoneurium of the trigeminal and the sciatic nerves or in the spinal nerve roots. In such structures labeled cells appeared in the connective tissue sheaths covering the nerves and the roots. No adriamycin-induced fluorescence was detected in the myenteric plexus of the intestine. Our study thus shows that i.v. injected adriamycin is distributed preferentially within areas of the PNS where the blood vessels are known to be highly permeable.