DEVELOPMENT OF MATERNAL IGG-FREE CHICK OBTAINED FROM SURGICALLY BURSECTOMIZED HEN

IgG-free eggs and chicks were developed, so as to study the role of ma ternal IgG in the development of the immune system. Surgical bursectom y on the 18th day of incubation deprived chickens of B cells and elimi nated IgG synthesis. Bursectomized chickens are usually dead before se xual maturity under conventional conditions. When surgically bursectom ized chickens were housed in an isolated clean room and antibiotics we re administered to them, they could survive to sexual maturity. Finall y, we succeeded in obtaining IgG-free fertilized eggs and maternal IgG -free chicks from surgically bursectomized hens. The amount of yolk Ig G in IgG-free eggs was one-ten thousandth less than that in normal egg s. The level of IgM in the serum of maternal IgC-free chicks reached s ix times higher than that of normal chicks 5 days after hatching. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.