| Abstract: | Lymphocytes from the cervical lymph nodes of guinea pigs were incubated in medium No. 199 for 24 h in the presence of cortisol in concentrations of 20 and 100  g/100 ml. The survival rate of the lymphocytes and their cortisol metabolism were determined and their nucleic acid concentration was estimated cytophotometrically. In intact and sensitized guinea pigs progesterone, in a concentration of 10–5 M, inhibited both the lytic action of cortisol and its metabolism. A marked decrease in cortisol metabolism by the lymphocytes was found from the sixth day after sensitization, and it did not recover until the 90th day. On the 17th-30th day the cortisol-resistant lymphocyte population was increased. In a concentration of 100 g/100 ml cortisol reduced the nucleic acid concentration in lymphocytes both of the intact guinea pigs and also of the sensitized animals on the 17th-30th day, when the cortisol-resistant cell population was increased.Department of General Pathology, N. I. Pirogov Second Moscow Medical Institute. Allergologic Scientific-Research Laboratory, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR A. D. Ado.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 83, No. 1, pp. 68–71, January, 1977. |
