EFFECTS OF BENZODIAZEPINES ON IMMUNODEFICIENCY AND RESISTANCE IN MICE

Our results indicate that benzodiazepine (Bz) treatment time, greater than 2-3 months, induce a decrease of both specific and nonspecific re sponses. Mice treated for different times with diazepam or chlordemeth yldiazepam showed decreased survival to experimental Salmonella typhim urium infections after three months of treatment. Adherence, expressed as the polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) capacity to attach to nylon wool , was impaired after 7 days of treatment. Longer treatments further in crease this impairment. PMN from mice treated with Bz for 90 days also demonstrate on impaired chemotaxis and phagocytosis for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Monocytes from mice treated for 7 days secreted more IL-1 alpha then controls; the antibody titer in mice given to prolonged tr eatment progressively diminished compared to controls. Con A or LPS st imulated lymphocytes showed an increase of H-3-thymidine incorporation from mice treated for a short time and conversely a decreased incorpo ration when taken from mice that underwent longer treatments. Benzodia zepines were therefore found to affect PMN chemotaxis and phagocitosis , general immunity and survival of mice to infections.