Abstract
Chicken globule leucocytes (GL) were immunohistochemically detected in various organs using anti chicken thymocyte serum (ATS), which reacted specifically on thymocytes and peripheral T-cells. GL were distributed in the epithelium and the lamina propria of the digestive tract, Disse's spaces and the mesenchymal area of liver, renal tubules, the epithelium of the urinary ducts, the interfollicular epithelium and the epithelium covering the large diffusely infiltrated area of the bursa of Fabricius. There were two kinds of GL, ATS-negative and ATS-slightly positive. The reaction products on the cell surface were weaker than those of lymphocytes in the same areas. The granules of GL in the epithelium of the intestinal crypt were apparently larger than those in the villous epithelium. Spleno-GL were rarely seen as their granules were extremely fine. No GL were found in the thymus, bone marrow, respiratory organs, the pancreas and its ducts, the gall bladder, and the lymphoid follicles associated with the alimentary tract. The characteristic distributional patterns and the nature of the T-cell lineage of chicken GL, were similar to those of the natural killer cells.
