抄録
The evidences that the psychological factors influenced the prognosis of allergic diseases were observed by many clinicians and suggested the correlationship between stress and the immune system. To clarify the correlation more in detail, the authors had carried out animal experiments whose results showed the affection of stress on plasminic activity, on Hageman's activity and cytotoxicity of killer T cells. In this paper, these studies were succeeded to the influence of stress on the function of macrophages, which had important roles in the immune system such as phagocytosis, recognition of antigen, etc. By using mice (AKR), the carbon clearance method was carried out to measure the activity of phagocytosis of macrophages. Stresses were given by immobilization and by the stress box where the stimuli of electricity, light and buzzer were given. Changes of the activity of phagocytosis were observed at the different durations of stress. The results showed that in the stress box group, the carbon clearance rates had been depressed during two to five days of stress, but at the sixth day, carbon clearance rates were rather recovered due to acclimatization of the mice to stress. In the immobilization group, the activity of phagocytosis was rather enhanced by stress until the eighth hour and then was suppressed strongly. Suppression of the function of macrophages was nor recovered by infusion of the serum of control mouse. Corinebacterium can inhibit the suppression of phagocytosis by stress. Our experiments suggested that stress affected the phabocytic function of macrophage directly not through the serum factors.
