Investigations on the Developing Chicken Bursa of Fabricius

RECENT investigations on the bursa of Fabricius have led to the conclusion that this organ exerts some influence on the development of immunological responsiveness in birds by regulating the production of humoral antibodies (Glick et al., 1956, 1964; Warner and Szenberg, 1964; Pierce et al., 1966; Cooper et al., 1967). Such a control operates through the production of immunologically competent cells which are able to migrate and differentiate. These processes are then followed by the onset of humoral immunologic response (Woods and Linna, 1965; Jaffe and Fechheimer, 1966; Moore and Owen, 1966). Moreover the bursa secretes a diffusible factor which acts on the trophism of lymphoid tissue (Glick, 1960; Jankovic and Leskovitz, 1965; St. Pierre and Ackermann, 1965). Grossi et al., (1967, 1968), Thorbecke et al. (1968) and Zaccheo et al. (1968) suggested another function for the bursa, that is the capacity to synthesize immunoglobulins. The immunoglobulin synthesis can be…