A MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF TETRACYCLINE LOCALIZATION IN SKELETAL NEOPLASMS

Abstract

Tetracycline was adminis-tered to a series of human subjects with skeletal neoplasms. Localization of tetracycline-induced fluorescence occurred only in those areas in which matrix calcification was observed. Fluorescent-positive tissue areas were also alizarin-positive and showed structural changes in the matrix when examined by phase, darkfield and polarized light micros-copy. Calcified cartilage in tumors showed intense fluorescence, which was not detected in the epiphyses of normal experimental animals. It is postulated that the tetracyclines bind to calcium of "seeded" crystal nucleation sites and their immediate derivatives on collagen fibrils presumably via the oxygen atoms of the D-ring (carbon atoms 1 through 7) of naphthacenecarboxamide nuclei.