THE FUNCTIONS OF THE THYMUS SYSTEM AND THE BURSA SYSTEM IN THE CHICKEN

Abstract
The bursa of Fabricius and the thymus are "central lymphoid organs" in the chicken, essential to the ontogenetic development of adaptive immunity in that species. Surgical removal of one or both of these organs in the newly hatched chicken, followed by sublethal X-irradiation the next day, has permitted recognition of two morphologically distinct cell systems in the "peripheral lymphoid tissues" of the spleen, gut, and other organs, and clear definition of the separate functions of each cell system.