Transfer of hypogammaglobulinemia in two inbred chicken strains by spleen cells from bursectomized donors.

Transfer of lymphoid cells from agammaglobulinemic donor chickens into 3- to 4-week-old irradiated recipients that had been surgically bursectomized at 2 to 3 weeks of age significantly depressed the ability of the antibody-forming apparatus to recover from irradiation. Antibody production to Brucella abortus and sheep erythrocytes remained much below control levels in BX donor-cell recipients of both chicken strains studied (SC and FP). Progressive loss of serum IgM and IgG was observed primarily in the FP strain resulting in complete agammaglobulinemia within 4 to 6 weeks after transfer of BX donor spleen cells. Serial transfer of this phenomenon was demonstrated in the SC strain.