EA-rosette-forming cells in chickens: presence in spleens of bursectomized chickens and relationships to B-lymphocytes.

Spleen cells from 3-month-old chickens which had been surgically and chemically bursectomized were examined for rosette-forming lymphocytes (RFL). Finding no correlation between the degree of agammaglobulinemia in bursectomized chickens and the percentage of RFL in their spleens demonstrated a dissociation between two B-cell dependent functions, namely, immunoglobulin production and rosette-forming ability. In fact, the percentage of RFL in the spleens of agammaglobulinemic chickens was found to be slightly higher than those of normal chickens. The data indicate that RFL in spleens of normal chickens are B cells, and suggest the existence of a population of rosette-forming B lymphocytes in agammaglobulinemic bursectomized chickens.