Primary culture of chicken bursal plical epithelium.

Plical epithelial cells were obtained by trypsin-EDTA treatment of chicken bursa of Fabricius and cultured in the presence of type IV collagen. The culture became confluent six to seven days after seeding. The grown cells showed a positive reaction for cytokeratin by immunostaining and had ultrastructural characteristics of the epithelial cells in vivo. The cell culture will be useful for parasitological and virological studies.