The bursa of Fabricius of the chicken embryo: localization and ontogenic evolution of sex-steroid target cells.

Androgenic hormones induce inhibition or regression of the bursa of Fabricius in the chick embryo. The high doses of hormones necessary to this involution raises the question of the processes involved and their putative role in the normal development of the bursa. If androgens play a role it is mediated by receptor sites in target cells. Using an autoradiographic technique, receptor sites for androgenic hormones were localized in mesenchymal cells of the bursa from the primordium (7-day embryo) up to the fully differentiated immune organ (15-day embryo). No target cells containing receptor sites in their nuclei were observed in the endodermic epithelium or the follicles. Oestrogen target cells in very small number are found in the mesenchyme of the bursa, in 15-day embryos. The early presence of receptor sites for steroid hormones in the bursa of Fabricius shows that the normal development may be influenced by androgens, but the actual effects are yet to be demonstrated.