02246nas a2200301   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001100055653001600066653001100082653002100093653001200114653002600126653002400152653001400176653004000190653001800230100001200248700001300260700001800273700001300291245020000304300001100504490000700515050001400522520139400536022001401930       1978                            d  c1978 Jun10aFemale10aFetal Blood10aHumans10aLabor, Obstetric10aleprosy10aLymphocyte Activation10aPhytohemagglutinins10aPregnancy10aPregnancy Complications, Infectious10aT-Lymphocytes1 aBjune G1 aDuncan E1 aBarnetson R S1 aMelsom R00aIn vitro modulation of lymphocyte responses to phytohaemagglutinin by plasma in mother and baby at the time of birth. Increased lymphocyte responses in babies of mothers with lepromatous leprosy.  a517-220 v32  aBJUNE19783 a<p>Peripheral blood lymphocytes from nineteen healthy mothers, mothers with borderline tuberculoid leprosy and fourteen mothers with borderline or polar lepromatous leprosy, and their newborn babies, were stimulated in vitro with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). The responses in medium supplemented by serum from a pool of healthy non-pregnant individuals were compared with responses in medium supplemented by plasma from the mothers or from their babies, to assay for the presence of non-specific effects on T-cell responses. It was found that plasma from the mothers at the time of labour profoundly suppressed their own lymphocyte responses to PHA. However, the lymphocyte responses of healthy mothers were not significantly suppressed when cultivated in the presence of plasma from the babies, indicating that the suppressive factor(s) of normal pregnancy did not pass the placental barrier. Plasma from mothers with leprosy had a greater inhibitory effect on their babies' lymphocytes than plasma from healthy mothers. This raises the possibility that plasma from leprosy patients contains suppressive factors other than those associated with pregnancy. Babies of lepromatous leprosy mothers, who might have been exposed to mycobacterial antigens in utero, had higher PHA responses than the other babies, possibly due to a compensatory reaction to early stresses in the immune system.</p>  a0009-9104