[Transfer of chicken anti-human IgG factors from hen to chicks and inheritance of human serum reactivities toward the factors].

Chin (1983) first reported the content of IgM anti-human IgG factor in chicken sera. He investigated the differences in agglutinability between latex particles coated with heat-aggregated IgG from individual specimen sera. No association was found between the potencies of serum reactivities toward the chicken anti-human gamma globulin factor (CAHGF) and the classification of known blood- and serum-groups. This article describes two problems regarding the CAHGF and serum reactivities toward CAHGF. 1) Transfer of CAHGF from chickens to chicks The presence in egg yolk of CAHGF was proved by the agglutination of latex particles coated with heat-aggregated human IgG. Its content, however, was not clearly indicated, because egg white nonspecifically agglutinates latex particles. After the 13-day storage of eggs in an incubator, the CAHGF in the yolk disappeared, and instead, 2 in 4 serum specimens of embryo chicks were shown to contain it. Three of six serum specimens from newly hatched chicks also contained CAHGF. These above results strongly suggest the transfer of CAHGF from the hens' serum to the chicks via the egg yolk. 2) Dot immunoassay of serum reactivities toward CAHGF and its application to genetic studies A dot immunoassay method was developed for quantitating serum reactivities toward CAHGF. In this method, the specimen serum was heated for 60 minutes at 56 degrees C, and serially diluted with glycine buffered saline (GBS). Then three microliters of each dilution was applied to a 10 x 68 mm strip of nitrocellulose membrane (pore size 5 microns).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)