Effect of psychotropic agents upon the blastogenic response of human t-lymphocytes.

Antischizophrenic agents, phenothiazine and nonphenothiazine, inhibit the transformation of the T-lymphocyte in vitro. This inhibition occurs only in the early event and is neither competitive with dopamine, nor appears to involve Na+/K+ adenosine triphosphatase. RNA synthesis is more sensitive to the inhibitory effect than DNA or protein synthesis. This leads to the conclusion that chlorpromazine may act by inhibiting the synthesis of newly formed RNA, and subsequently, transformation, rather than by alteration of the cell membrane.