[Schizophrenia and B-lymphocyte alteration--a hypothesis].

We studied the immunglobulin synthesis of peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy blood donors and of patients suffering from acute schizophrenia and endogenous depression. The detection of cytoplasmic immunglobulins was performed by immunofluorescence. The schizophrenic patients showed an increased immunglobulin synthesis without cultivation of lymphocytes, after cultivation for 7 days and after pokeweed mitogen stimulation. This activation of B cells could be the result of disturbances in the prostaglandin formation and activation.