Senesi S, Batoni G, Bianchi F, Freer G, Dolfi A, Campa M, Lupetti M
Department of Biomedicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
Dev Comp Immunol. 1990 Winter;14(1):95-104. doi: 10.1016/0145-305x(90)90011-3.
Adenosine deaminase, a purine metabolic enzyme, was studied in lymphoid tissues of the developing chicken in order to evaluate whether enzyme activity is related to development of the immune system in birds in the same way as for mammals, in which adenosine deaminase is essential for lymphocyte differentiation, especially for the T-cell lineage. Enzyme activity was assayed in thymocytes and bursal lymphocytes at different times during chicken development ranging from the 17th day of embryonic life up to the 50th day after hatching. Adenosine deaminase activity was significantly higher in the bursa than in the thymus, regardless of whether such an activity was expressed per mg protein or per 10(8) cells; moreover, no substantial difference in the relative levels of adenosine deaminase was observed in thymocytes at the various stages of thymus development studied. Significant changes in enzyme activity, however, were found in bursal lymphocytes in which different amounts of adenosine deaminase appeared to be related to definite stages of bursal development and to specific immunological responsiveness of B lymphocytes to intravenously injected antigens. Therefore, if adenosine deaminase does play a role in the functional maturation of the immune system in birds, such a role appears to be related to the differentiation of the B- rather than the T-cell lineage.
腺苷脱氨酶是一种嘌呤代谢酶，为了评估其酶活性是否与鸟类免疫系统发育的关系如同在哺乳动物中一样（在哺乳动物中，腺苷脱氨酶对淋巴细胞分化至关重要，尤其是对T细胞谱系），我们对发育中的鸡的淋巴组织进行了研究。在鸡发育的不同时期，即从胚胎期第17天到孵化后第50天，测定了胸腺细胞和法氏囊淋巴细胞中的酶活性。无论以每毫克蛋白质还是每10⁸个细胞来表示这种活性，法氏囊中的腺苷脱氨酶活性都显著高于胸腺；此外，在所研究的胸腺发育的各个阶段，胸腺细胞中腺苷脱氨酶的相对水平没有观察到实质性差异。然而，在法氏囊淋巴细胞中发现了酶活性的显著变化，其中不同量的腺苷脱氨酶似乎与法氏囊发育的特定阶段以及B淋巴细胞对静脉注射抗原的特异性免疫反应性有关。因此，如果腺苷脱氨酶确实在鸟类免疫系统的功能成熟中发挥作用，那么这种作用似乎与B细胞谱系而非T细胞谱系的分化有关。
