Adriamycin distribution in plasma and blood cells of cancer patients with altered hematocrit

Abstract

Adriamycin (AM) distribution in the cellular and plasma components of blood has been investigated in cancer patients with hematocrit values ranging from 23 to 49 after i.v. drug doses (40–70 mg/m²). AM was measured by a fluorimetric technique in total blood, plasma and blood cells. Blood levels were found to be related to the dose, and when the number of blood cells per milliliter was low, a smaller amount of AM was found in the cell fraction and a larger amount was found in the plasma fraction. A further result of these studies was that, as already shown in Walker-bearing rats, AM accumulated to a marked extent in blood cells, particularly platelets, as expressed by the drug concentration per unit volume, and persisted longer in white blood cells and platelets than red cells, suggesting that the various cells have different roles in transport, storage or metabolism of the compound.