Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:24:28.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resistance to Eimeria infections in the chicken: the effects of thymectomy, bursectomy, whole body irradiation and cortisone treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

M. Elaine Rose  and
P. L. Long
M. Elaine Rose
Affiliation:
Houghton Poultry Research Station, Houghton, Huntingdon, England
P. L. Long
Affiliation:
Houghton Poultry Research Station, Houghton, Huntingdon, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Surgical bursectomy or thymectomy at day old had little effect on primary or subsequent infections with E. brunetti or E. maxima.

Whole body irradiation of day-old chickens with 700 or 750 R did not affect the development of immunity to these Eimeria spp., but in some experiments it affected oocyst production during initial infections.

In one of four trials, birds surgically bursectomized and irradiated produced twice as many E. brunetti oocysts during an initial infection as the irradiated only controls; in the remaining three trials, oocyst production in the operated birds was either similar to or slightly greater than that in the controls. Combined bursectomy and irradiation did not affect immunity to re-infection.

Combined thymectomy and irradiation had little effect on primary infections (increased oocyst output was found in only one of six trials) and no effect on subsequent immunity; mean body weights and circulating lymphocyte numbers were decreased but tuberculin sensitivity was reduced in only a small proportion of the birds, indicating that the cell mediated immune responses of the majority were not affected.

Small (0.75 mg) daily doses of cortisone acetate given to irradiated birds or irradiated thymectomized birds, did not affect resistance to reinfection with E. brunetti.

We wish to thank Dr B. M. Freeman for surgical bursectomy; Mr E. A. King, Department of Radiotherapeutics, University of Cambridge, for irradiation and members of the technical staff of the Parasitology Department for their willing and skilled assistance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , April 1970 , pp. 291 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aspinall, R. L., Meyer, R. K., Graetzer, M. A. & Wolfe, H. R. (1963). Effect of thymectomy and bursectomy on the survival of skin homografts in chickens. Journal of Immunology 90, 872–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biggs, P.M., Long, P. L., Kenzy, S. G. & Rootes, D. G. (1968). Relationship between Marek's disease and coccidiosis. II. The effect of Marek's disease on the susceptibility of chickens to coccidial infection. The Veterinary Record 83, 284–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cain, W. A., Van Alten, P. J., Good, R. A. & Cooper, M. D. (1968). The stepwise development of humoral immunological competence. Federation Proceedings, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 27 (abstr.), 1558, 493.Google Scholar
Horton-Smith, C. & Long, P. L. (1959). The effects of different anticoccidial agents on the intestinal coccidioses of the fowl. Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics 69, 192–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Janković, B. D. & Isaković, K. (1966) Antibody production in bursectomised chickens given repeated injections of antigen. Nature 211, 202–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, P. L. & Pierce, A. E. (1963). Role of cellular factors in the mediation of immunity to avian coccidiosis (Eimeria tenella). Nature 200, 426–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Long, P. L. & Rowell, J. G. (1958). Counting oocysts of chicken coccidia. Laboratory Practice 7, 515–18, 534.Google Scholar
Long, P. L. & Rose, M. E. (1970). Extended schizogony of Eimeria mivati in betamethasone treated chickens. Parasitology 60, 147–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mueller, A. P., Wolfe, J. R., Meyer, R. K. & Aspinall, R. L. (1962). Further studies on the role of the bursa of Fabricius in antibody production. Journal of Immunology 88, 354–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Natt, M. P. & Herrick, C. A. (1952). A new blood diluent for counting the erythrocytes and leucocytes of the chicken. Poultry Science 31, 735–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierce, A. E. & Long, P. L. (1965). Studies on acquired immunity to coccidiosis in bursaless and thymectomised fowls. Immunology 9, 427–39.Google Scholar
Rose, M. E. (1968). The effect of splenectomy upon infection with Eimeria tenella. Parasitology 58, 481–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, M. E. (1969). Immunity to Eimeria in the fowl. Progress in Protozoology IIIrd. International Congress on Protozoology, Leningrad, 352.Google Scholar
Rose, M. E. (1970). Immunity to coccidiosis: effect of betamethasone treatment of fowls on Eimeria mivati infections. Parasitology 60, 137–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, M. E. & Long, P. L. (1962). Immunity to four species of Eimeria in fowls. Immunology 5, 79–92.Google ScholarPubMed
Rose, M. E. & Orlans, R. (1968). Normal immune responses of bursaless chickens to a secondary antigenic stimulus. Nature 217, 231–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warner, N. L., Szenberg, A. & Burnet, F. M. (1962). The immunological role of different lymphoid organs in the chicken. I. Dissociation of immunological responsiveness. Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science 40, 373–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed