Chicken B cells undergo discrete developmental changes in surface carbohydrate structure that appear to play a role in directing lymphocyte migration during embryogenesis.

The migration of progenitor cells to specific microenvironments is essential for the development of complex organisms. Avian species possess a unique primary lymphoid organ, the bursa of Fabricius, that plays a central role in the development of B cells. B cell progenitors, however, arise outside the bursa of Fabricius and, during embryonic development, must migrate through the vasculature to the bursa of Fabricius. In this report, we demonstrate that these progenitor B cells express the sialyl Lewis x carbohydrate structure previously shown to be a ligand for the selectin family of vascular adhesion receptors. Soon after migration to the bursa of Fabricius, B cell progenitors are induced to undergo a developmental switch and terminate the expression of sialyl Lewis x in a temporal pattern that correlates with the developmental decline in the ability of these cells to home to the bursa of Fabricius upon transplantation. The induction of the developmental switch in the glycosylation pattern of developing B cells requires the bursal environment. In addition, sialyl Lewis x carbohydrate determinants or structurally similar determinants on the surface of immortalized bursal lymphoid stem cells participate in the adherence of these cells to the vascular regions of the bursal microenvironment. These data demonstrate that the carbohydrate structure sialyl Lewis x is developmentally regulated during chicken B cell development and may facilitate the migration of B cell progenitors to the bursal microenvironment by serving as a ligand for a lectin-like adhesion receptor.