Antigenic relationship between chicken brain and granulocytes.

Antisera prepared in rabbits and turkeys against chicken brain were tested in membrane immunofluorescence and lymphocytotoxicity tests for their reactivity with thymocytes and cells from the bursa of Fabricius of normal White Leghorn chickens. In contrast to the findings in mice and other mammals, these antisera did not afford any specific reaction with thymus cells after exhaustive absorptions of species specific antibodies with cells from various tissues. However, absorbed rabbit antisera could be shown to react specifically with cells from the granulocytic series in the bone marrow and, to a lesser extent, in the peripheral blood of chickens.