[Disorders in the immune status and hepatic pathologies in young heroin addicts]

The immunocytograms of 166 patients with opiomania, primarily of the heroin variation, aged 15 to 19, were examined. 18 healthy teenagers of the same age were in the control group. The sampling comprised both patients without any signs of infectious diseases (86 persons) and patients with viral hepatitis B and C. The deviations of the immune-cellular status comprised, in drug addicts, a deficit of T-helpers and NK-cells as well as an increased quantity of "zero" lymphocytes. An essential reduction in the level of T-suppressors (killers) was additional found in the group of drug-addicts with viral hepatices. The signs of cytolysis of hepatocytes were detected in young heroin addicts. The contents of lipid peroxides was significantly higher in the blood plasma of teenagers abusing the opium drugs; while the concentration of antioxidant factor was as follows: Vitamin E, sulfhydric proteins and urate were found to be decreased. A reliable correlation was found between the changes of the quantity of T-helpers, T-suppresses (killers) and 0-lymphocytes, on the one hand, and the activity of hepatic transaminases, on the other hand, (for AST = 0.65-0.70; p < 0.01). The disorders in the immune-cellular status persist for as long as three to four weeks after the refusal from drug consumption; it is noteworthy, that their severity can essentially go up. The activity of 5'-nucleotidase, involved in the transformation of receptor signals in T- and B-lymphocytes, was histochemically studied in immunocytes. The activity of the enzyme essentially went down in both populations of lymphocytes by the 7th day of abstinence; it remained at the mentioned level up to the 14th day (in patients with hepatitis) or up to 21st day (in patients without hepatitis). Therefore, the quantitative deficit of immunocytes in drug addicts was accompanied, during the abstinence period, by an inhibition of their functional activity.