[Proliferative response of schizophrenic patient's peripheral blood lymphocytes]

The author studied the proliferative abilities of lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of schizophrenic patients and normals in cultures not containing autologous plasma. The reactivity of lymphocytes in schizophrenic patients to PHA and rabbit serum to human thymocytes (ATS) appeared to be decreased. The level of their proliferative response to concavaline A was significantly the same as in normals. The assumption is made that in schizophrenic patients there is a blocking of lymphocyte receptors, binding PHA and ATS. The possibility of a deficit of a subpopulation of T lymphocytes in the organism of patients highly sensitive to stimulation by PHA and ATS is not excluded.