Endogenous psychoses and T and B lymphocytes.

By means of the rosette test an increase of active T lymphocytes (aE rosettes) in percent and a decrease of B lymphocytes (EA and EAC rosettes) could be proved in 42 psychotic patients. When dividing the tested patients into the group of depressions and the group of schizophrenics, the active T lymphocytes were more numerous in the former, T and also B lymphocytes were less frequent in the latter than in the sample of the population. An analysis of the entire group in response to medication indicates that administering of these drugs will probably influence these differences, too. Patients taking lithium and patients treated with phenothiazine neuroleptics more frequently showed an increased percentage of activated cells (aE rosettes) than those patients treated with other drugs (P < .05). These changes seemed to be especially significant in patients taking both these drugs simultaneously, moreover, a high frequency of aE rosettes also produced a decrease of B lymphocytes--EA and EAC rosettes--in these patients. In all three cases P < .001.