Effect of bursectomy and thymectomy on the responses of chicken peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohaemagglutinin.

Abstract

THE immunological significance of the transformation of lymphocytes by phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) has not been clearly denned. PHA stimulates cells other than lymphocytes1–3 and there is evidence to suggest that the response of lymphocytes is not dependent on earlier sensitization to PHA itself4. None the less, transformation seems to be related to the immunological competence of the responding lymphocytes; thus this response is greatly diminished in children with congenital absence of the thymus gland, associated with impaired immune responses5,6.