Profound suppression of lymphocyte function in early biliary obstruction.

The blastogenic response to mitogens was studied in spleen and lymph node cells from four groups of Lewis rats at 1 to 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 9 and 10 to 14 days, respectively, after common bile duct ligation (CBD) or sham celiotomy (SC). Suppression in the splenocytes' mitogenic response to concanavalin A and phytohemagglutinin was noted as early as 3 days after common bile duct ligation. The response remained suppressed during the period of observation. Lymph node cells manifested a suppressed response to concanavalin A and phytohemagglutinin after 4 days of jaundice. No alteration in splenocyte response to lipopolysaccharide was observed. There was no correlation with the level of serum bilirubin.