The present study examined the effect of two drugs, which contain either an aromatic amine or hydrazine moiety and are known to induce lupus like syndromes in man (procainamide and hydralazine) and an aliphatic amine (dansylcadaverine), on pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-induced B cell production of immunoglobulin G (IgG). These compounds all inhibited IgG production and generation of IgG plaque forming cells, whereas derivatives of them, without free amine groups, had little or no effect. The compounds inhibited differentiation of B cells to plasma cells, rather than production and secretion of IgG. Mitogen free culture supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) activated by the oxidizing mitogen, neuraminidase and galactose oxidase (NAGO), prevented the inhibition of B cell maturation. Moreover, incubation of NAGO treated PBM with hydralazine prevented the production of soluble factors capable of promoting B cell maturation in the presence of hydralazine. We conclude from these studies that procainamide, hydralazine and dansylcadaverine inhibit PWM-induced B cell maturation to plasma cells by an indirect mechanism, via inhibition of production of lymphokines by helper cells. The primary amine or hydrazine group appears to be required for the inhibitory effect, since analogues of the inhibitory compounds, without primary amine groups, are non-inhibitory.