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Effect of Thymectomy and Bursectomy on Precipitin and Natural Hemagglutinin Production in the Chicken¹

From the Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 6, Wisconsin

Abstract

1. Thymectomy of chickens during the first 3 days of age does not consistently affect precipitin production to bovine serum albumin when challenged at 6 to 9 weeks of age. In some cases, thymectomized groups did not differ in mean peak titer from controls; in some cases the response was significantly lower; in one case the response was significantly higher. This variation was not evident for the time necessary to clear antigen from the circulation.

2. Of intact and sham control birds 100% responded by producing precipitins, whereas 6% of the thymectomized birds did not give a detectable response. This frequency of negative responders was statistically significant.

3. There was a tendency for groups with greater amounts of residual thymic tissue to give higher mean precipitin titers. However, the titers of birds with no residual thymus fell in a range very similar to that of the controls.

4. The development of natural hemagglutinins was not affected by thymectomy.

5. Splenectomy performed from 2 to 10 days of age significantly delayed the appearance of precipitins but did not affect the mean peak titer.

6. Bursectomy at 1 to 2 days of age reduced the mean peak precipitin titers and the natural hemagglutinin titers drastically. Most birds did not give a detectable response.

Footnotes

¹ A preliminary report of this work was presented before the American Association of Anatomists, March 20 to 23, 1962.

Supported in part by grant No. AI 92199-04 from the National Institutes of Health and by grant C14 A-804 (C15) from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases.

² This investigation was carried out during the tenure of a Predoctoral Fellowship from the Division of General Medical Sciences, United States Public Health Service.

³ The authors acknowledge the assistance of the Numerical Analysis Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin and Reinhard Graetzer who programed the data.