Ontogeny of humoral immune function in normal chickens: a comparison of immunoglobulin-secreting cells in bone marrow, spleen, lungs and intestine

A reverse haemolytic plaque was employed to study the ontogeny of immunoglobulin (Ig) secreting cells of either IgG, IgA, or IgM class in normal chickens. After hatching, IgM-secreting cells were detectable in the spleen by 3 days of age whereas IgG- and IgA-secreting cells were first noted at 6 days. Adult levels of Ig-secreting cells of all three classes were attained by 31 days of age in bone marrow and two separate lymphoid populations (lamina propria and intraepithelial lymphocytes). By contrast, adult levels of Ig-secreting cells were not obtained in either the spleen or the lungs until after 50 days of age. In the case of the spleen, the delay in attainment of adult levels of total Ig-secreting cells reflected the smaller spleen size in immature birds, whereas the percentages of cells secreting Ig of each class were in the adult range by 31 days. By contrast, the numbers of cells recovered from the lungs of 50-day-old chickens were near the adult range, while the percentages of cells secreting either IgG, IgA, or IgM were much fewer than those seen in the lungs of adult chickens. These data indicate that the lungs of normal chickens are populated more slowly with Ig-secreting cells than either the bone marrow, spleen, or intestine. At all ages studied, greater numbers of Ig-secreting cells, particularly of the IgG and IgM classes, were recovered from the bone marrow and spleen as compared to the lungs and intestine. Since only a portion of the total bone marrow population was studied, these data include that the bone marrow may be a major site of Ig-secreting cells in chickens beginning shortly after hatching.