Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. B Cell Biology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1449117
This article is part of the Research Topic New Insights on B Cell Development in Poultry View all articles

Characterization and ontogeny of a novel lymphoid follicle inducer cell during development of the bursa of Fabricius

Provisionally accepted
Emőke Szőcs Emőke Szőcs 1Adam Balic Adam Balic 2,3Ádám Soós Ádám Soós 1Viktória Halasy Viktória Halasy 1Nándor Nagy Nándor Nagy 1*
  • 1 Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 2 Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 3 Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The avian bursa of Fabricius (BF) is a primary lymphoid organ, where B-cell development occurs within bursal follicles of epithelial origin. During embryogenesis the epithelial anlage of the BF emerges as a diverticulum of the cloaca surrounded by undifferentiated tail bud mesenchyme. While it is believed that the epithelial-mesenchymal BF primordium provides a selective microenvironment for developing B cells, the initial events inducing lymphoid follicle formation are not fully elucidated. Using wild type and CSF1R-eGFP transgenic chick embryos, we find that separate B cell, macrophage and dendritic cell precursors enter the BF mesenchyme, migrate to the surface epithelium, and colonize the lymphoid follicle buds. Detailed immunocytochemical characterization revealed a novel EIV-E12+ blood-borne cell type, colonizing the surface epithelium of the BF rudiment before the entry of myeloid and lymphoid lineages and the appearance of this cell type coincides with the onset of follicle bud formation. Chick-duck chimeras and chick-quail tissue recombination experiments suggest that EIV-E12+ cells represent a transient lymphoid inducer cell population. They are not dendritic or B cells precursors, and they are capable of follicle bud induction in both dendritic cell-and B cell-depleted bursae.

    Keywords: Bursa of Fabricius, LTi cells, B cell, dendritic cell, chicken

    Received: 14 Jun 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Szőcs, Balic, Soós, Halasy and Nagy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nándor Nagy, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.