ANALYSIS OF MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY FACTORS IN A STOCK OF CLOSELY INBRED WHITE LEGHORN FOWLS USING A GRAFT‐versus‐HOST REACTION ON THE CHORIOALLANTOIC MEMBRANE

Abstract

SUMMARY A study of two sublines of a closely inbred White Leghorn stock has been made using the number of foci produced after transfer of adult leucocytes to chorioallantoic membranes as an indication of the degree of genetic difference between donor and embryonic host. If minor degrees of reactivity are neglected for the time being, the results are explicable in terms of three alleles, A, B, C, at a single locus, and following clonal selection theories of immunity, on the assumption that each fowl carries leucocyte cell clones capable of reacting with antigens not present in its body.

Quantitative Aspects of the Simonsen Phenomenon

“…Previous studies on the Simonsen phenomenon have shown conclusively that it fulfils all the criteria of a graft versus host reaction, namely, that the reaction is initiated by immunologieally competent donor cells (Szenberg and Warner, 1962) under the stimulation of a foreign host antigen (Burnet and Burnet, 1961), the reaction occurring in an immunologically incompetent host. Several other properties might be ascribed to graft versus host reactions.…”

“…A point of interest that arises from this is the roughly twofold greater competence of the blood from another inbred line (designated by the genotype of CC, Burnet and Burnet, 1961), over AA blood when inoculated onto non-inbred membranes (Szenberg and Warner, 1962). This could possibly represent a similar situation to that described by Schierman and Nordskog (1963) in that with AA blood on non-inbred (AX) membranes, there is, on a selective approach, only one population of cells capable of reaction, whereas with the CC blood on (AX), provided the X is not the C genotype (which would be most unlikely as it would mean most outbred birds were AC), then two preadapted populations will be stimulated, thus giving twice the competence of AA donors on noninbred membranes.…”

“…Embryos and birds obtained from this source are termed non-inbreds. Inbred fertile eggs of the AA line (Burnet and Burnet, 1961) were obtained through the courtesy of Dr. J. A. Morris of the poultry research centre, C.S.I.R.O., Werribee.…”

“…This reaction has been termed the Simonsen phenomenon, and will also be referred to as a test for CAM competence of samples of blood leucocytes or spleen cell suspensions. Genetic studies (Burnet and Burnet, 1961) have indicated that the production of these lesions represents a graft versus host reaction analogous to that originally described by Simonsen (1957) on injecting adult fowl spleen cells intravenously into 18-day embryos and observing the subsequent splenomegaly and early death of the hatched embryos. Studies in this laboratory have indicated that the large lymphocyte is the type of donor cell responsible for the initiation of these lesions (Szenberg and Warner, 1962).…”

Antibody-Producing Capacity of Adult Chicken Spleen Cells in Newly Hatched Chicks

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The formulation of natural selection theories of immunity (1-3) has stimulated intensive investigation of the cellular dynamics of antibody production in a number of laboratories (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). Although determinations of the activity of isolated, single cells offer a direct approach (15-17), such analyses have thus far been limited to cells from secondarily stimulated animals.

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