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Cell‐Mediated Immunity in Human Pregnancy
Author(s) -
Fujisaki Syunichi,
Mori Norimasa,
Sasaki Toshio,
Maeyama Masao
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1979.tb02823.x
Subject(s) - pregnancy , lymphocyte , biology , fetus , peripheral blood , immunity , immunology , t lymphocyte , endocrinology , peripheral blood lymphocyte , medicine , immune system , andrology , genetics
The function of thymus‐dependent lymphocytes (T lymphocytes) was studied in women during pregnancy and labor and postpartum by evaluating the blastogenesis of peripheral lymphocytes, which were stimulated with phytohemagglutinin‐P (PHA‐P) in both whole‐blood semimicroculture and purified lymphocyte culture. Data from 353 random samples (203 women) and 50 serial specimens from 10 women revealed that PHA‐P induced‐lymphocyte blastogenesis was significantly ( p <0.005) reduced during pregnancy and labor but rapidly returned to normal several days after artificial termination in the early stage of pregnancy as well as after full‐term delivery. These results indicate that the T‐lymphocyte function in maternal peripheral blood is depressed by causes related to pregnancy. It seems very likely that depressed T‐lymphocyte function during pregnancy is caused by inhibitory factors in the blood plasma derived from the feto‐placental unit. Questions relating to the inhibitory factors in maternal plasma are discussed.