The development of unusual B-cell functions in the testosterone-propionate-treated chicken.

Chickens were treated with 4 mg of testosterone propionate on the twelfth day of embryonic life. Bursal remnants of testosterone-treated chickens were very small in size and had very few or no bursal follicles: the lymphoid tissue was replaced substantially by fibrosis. Testosterone-treated chickens formed almost exclusively IgM antibodies to sheep red blood cells and influenza virus, whereas no IgM or IgG response to Brucella abortus or Salmonella pullorum, and no IgG response to sheep red blood cells was demonstrable. Surgical removal of bursal remnants of testosterone-treated chickens at hatching did not significantly affect IgM response to sheep red blood cells. These B-cell functions of testosterone-treated chickens were not improved by addition of T cells, as shown by adoptive cell transfer experiments. Thus, there appears to be an unusual type B-cell development which is independent of the bursa of Fabricius.