The Significance of the Bursa of Fabricius of Chickens in Antibody Production

Growth of the Bursa of Fabricius and its Relationship to the Adrenal Gland in the White Pekin Duck, White Leghorn, Outbred and Inbred New Hampshire

“…The oviducts of birds bursectomized at 2 days were larger than the controls and the 4-week weight of ovaries from birds bursectomized at 12 days was consistently larger than control ovaries, Glick (1955a). A stimulating paper by Chang et al (1958) showed that the spleen enlarged after removal of the bursa. Several papers have presented evidence that the testes may influence the growth of the bursa.…”

Effects of Testosterone Proprionate on Lymphoid Tissues and Antibody Production in Chickens

“…Their work demonstrates that 19-nortestosterone and related analogs (Aspinall et al, 1959) not only inhibit the growth and development of the bursa of Fabricius, but also retards the development of other lymphoid tissues. Chang et al (1955Chang et al ( , 1957Chang et al ( , 1958 have surgically demonstrated that the bursa of Fabricius singly and in combination with the spleen is necessary during development in order that birds may subsequently be able to form antibodies. Chemical extirpation of the bursa and reduction of other lymphoid tissues using 19-nortestosterone also blocks the bird's subsequent ability to form antibodies (Mueller, Wolfe and Meyer, 1959).…”

Role of the Thymus and the Bursa of Fabricius in Immune Reactions in Chickens II.

“…Chang et al (4) have stated that the spleen is not essential for antibody formation, but there is good evidence that this organ is associated with antibody production. Thus Wolfe and his associates (23,24) demonstrated that splenectomy reduces the reactivity of chickens to an initial injection of soluble antigen, or at least delays the antibody response.…”

“…Since G lick et al (1) first demonstrated that surgically bursectom izcd chickens have a compromised antibody-producing capacity, and M e y e r et al (2) reported that the injection of 19-norteslosterone inhibits the normal evolution of the bursa, a growing body of evidence has accumulated indicating the important role of the bursa of Fabricius in the development of immunological responsive ness. It seems at present that this role is confined to the develop ment of antibody-manufacturing potential (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9), while the devel opment of delayed hypersensitive responsiveness is related to the immunological function of the thymus (10-15, 8, 9). Although the bursa of Fabricius is widely considered to be indirectly involved in antibody production, a recent work (16) suggests that this organ is directly engaged in the formation of antibody.…”