[Effect of bone marrow opioid peptides on antibody formation in the productive phase of the immune response].

The cells of intact spinal cord produce a group of biologically active peptides--myelopeptides (MP) stimulating antibody formation at peak of immune response and exerting an analgesic endorphin-like effect. The experiments on comparative studies of antibody-stimulating effect of synthetic opioid peptides and MP have shown that the mixture of opioid substances composed in aliquots corresponding to their content in MP has an antibody-stimulating effect similar to that of MP. Synthetic beta-endorphin also enhances the antibody formation during the productive phase of immune response at doses 1000-fold lower than its MP level. Leu- and met-enkephalins have no antibody-stimulating effect. An antagonist opiate, naloxone, blocks the antibody-stimulating activity of both opiates and MP. A close correlation between antibody-stimulating and analgetic endorphin-like MP activity has been established.