Experimentally-induced agammaglobulinemia in Japanese quails.

Induction of agammaglobulinemia in Japanese quails was attempted by various procedures of bursectomy (BX) including hormonal BX (H-BX) with testosterone, surgical BX (S-BX), chemical BX (C-BX) with cyclophosphamide and irradiation with gamma-ray. Immunosuppressive effect of BX was evaluated by antibody production in response to immunization with bovine serum albumin and sheep red blood cells, by the level of natural antibody, and by the amount of immunoglobulins in sera. As a result, two procedures, i.e. combination of H-BX, S-BX, and C-BX and combination of H-BX, S-BX and irradiation were found to induce most frequently complete aggamaglobulinemia in which neither immunoglobulin nor antibody production was detected. Mechanisms of immunosuppression of these BX procedures were discussed from the morphological aspect of development of the bursa.