Sympathetic neuronal destruction in macaque monkeys by guanethidine and guanacline

To determine whether the peripheral sympathetic neurons of subhuman primates are destroyed by guanacline treatment, we treated Macaca fasicularis with 2 or 20 mg/kg of guanethidine, guanacline, or the saturated analog of guanacline (SAG) 5 times per week for 4 or 12 weeks. All monkeys given 20 mg/kg of guanethidine, guanacline, or SAG showed a marked loss of neurons in the ganglia of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. Treatment of macaques with 2 mg/kg of the guanidinium compounds resulted in patches of small‐cell infiltrate, slight neuronal loss, and degenerative alterations in the sympathetic ganglia. Neuronal alterations in sympathetic ganglia of all treated monkeys were accompanied by a prominent heterogeneous infiltrate of mononuclear cells arranged primarily in a perivascular distribution and extending into the ganglionic neuropil. Peripheral sensory ganglia were unaffected. These histological findings are similar to those described in the guanethidine‐induced immune‐mediated sympathectomy, which has been extensively studied in the rat.