Ontogenic studies on the appearance of two classes of immunoglobulin-forming cells in the spleen of the Aleutian skate, Bathyraja aleutica, a cartilaginous fish.

We identified the presence in the Aleutian skate, Bathyraja aleutica, of two classes of immunoglobulins (Ig), a high molecular weight Ig analogous to mammalian IgM and a low molecular weight Ig, similarly to the spiny rasp skate, Raja kenojei, (Kobayashi, K. et al., Mol. Immunol. 1984. 21: 397), using an immunological cross-reaction with the specific antisera to the spiny rasp skate Ig components. The antigenic similarity of the heavy chains of the Ig of the Aleutian skate and those of the spiny rasp skate was less than that between their light chains. Two types of Ig-producing cells, one producing the high molecular weight and the other forming the low molecular weight Ig, were present in the spleen of embryos and adults in the Aleutian skate at a ratio of 5-6:4-5. The number of these Ig-producing cells increased with advancing development of the embryos but was 1/20 to 1/50 of those of adults. Cells, each of which were capable of forming both classes of Ig, were found in the spleen of embryos but not in that of adults. These results suggested that the spleen of the Aleutian skate is the primary lymphoid organ for B lymphocyte differentiation and proliferation, possibly equivalent to the bursa of birds.