Studies on agranulocytosis. 8. Inhibition of mitosis in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes by chlorpromazine.

Abstract

Abstract When lymphocytes from peripheral blood are incubated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), they undergo blast transformation and cell division. When chlorpromazine (CPZ) was added to the medium at the start of the culture, partial suppression of cell division and blast transformation was observed. There was less inhibition when CPZ was added after 24 hours. Patients who had had agranulocytosis showed depression of blast transformation when CPZ was added to their PHA-stimulated peripheral blood which was similar to that of normals. The addition of CPZ to the cultures delayed hourly accumulation of mitoses following addition of colchicine to 70 hour cultures in both drug sensitive and random people, CPZ suppressed blast transformation in cultures with PHA, tuberculin, and no mitogenic agent. The mitogenic suppressive properties of CPZ were dialyzable from a CPZ-PHA mixture. Possible reasons for these drug effects on cell division are discussed.