[Effect of antibiotics on human lymphocyte mitogenesis].

The effect of some antibiotics on in vitro blast transformation of lymphocytes of healthy donors stimulated with phytohemagglutinin was studied. The stimulation level was estimated by incorporation of 3H-thymidine into lymphocytes. It was shown that minocycline had a markedly pronounced inhibitory activity. Chloramphenicol and tetracycline also proved to be active inhibitors. Penicillin, cephalotin and carbenicillin had no effect on lymphocyte mitogenesis. Gentamicin proved to be a rather active stimulator of mitogenesis, especially with the use of a suboptimal concentration of phytohemagglutinin. The method is rather sensitive and informative. It may be used for preliminary determination of the immunotropic properties of drugs and chemical compounds with respect to immunocompetent cells of man.