Postnatal development of B lymphocytes and immunoglobulin-containing plasma cells in the chicken oviduct: studies on cellular distribution and influence of sex hormones

Postnatal development of B lymphocytes and plasma cells containing different classes of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, and IgM) was immunohistochemically studied in the oviduct of the Dekalb strain of the White Leghorn chicken. B lymphocytes first appeared in the lamina propria of the chicken oviduct at 5 weeks of age. Their frequency of occurrence peaked at 15 weeks from the infundibulum to the uterus (glandular part), while in the vagina (aglandular part) it did so at 21 weeks. Intraepithelial B lymphocytes were very rare and exclusively located in the vagina at 19 and 21 weeks. Plasma cells first appeared in the lamina propria of the oviduct at 11 weeks of age, and this frequency peaked at 32 weeks. IgG-containing plasma cells were most numerous in the glandular part, whereas in the aglandular part IgA and IgM cells were more numerous than IgG cells. When 7-day-old-chickens were treated with sex hormones, B lymphocytes and plasma cells appeared 12 h and 5 days after the hormone injection, respectively. Their frequency of occurrence was statistically higher in diethylstilbestrol (DES)-treated chickens than in DES plus progesterone-treated chickens. This suggests that the postnatal development of B lymphocytes and plasma cells in the oviduct of the chicken is correlated to estrogen secretion.