Immunoglobulin Surface Determinants on Chicken Lymphoid Cells

Abstract

In the course of the serologic characterization of turkey antisera to chicken bursa and thymus cells, anti-chicken immuno globulin antibodies were detected in some of the anti bursa cell sera by passive hemagglutination, double diffusion in gel, immunoelectrophoresis and cytolysis in agar techniques (1). Anti-thymus cell sera did not contain such activity. In view of these findings and reports of other authors on the occurrence of determinants on the surface of lymphoid cells reacting with anti-immunoglobulin sera in mice (2), rabbits (3), humans (4) and chickens (5, 6), it was deemed of interest to screen the lymphoid organs of chickens of different age for the presence of ceils with immunoglobulin surface determinants (ISD) and thus study the possibility of using surface-bound immunoglobulins as markers for bursa-derived lymphoid cells in the chicken.