A comparative study of gut-associated lymphoid tissue in calf and chicken

The calf contains two types of Peyer's patches (PPs): jejunal and ileal. The ileal PP has been thought to be equivalent to the bursa of Fabricius (BF) as a central lymphoid organ. The morphologies of ileal and jejunal PPs in the calf were compared with those of the BF and the caecal tonsil (CT) in the chicken. Immunoglobulin G-positive (IgG(+)) cells appear in the follicles of them all and exhibited a dendritic appearance after birth. We investigated whether the IgG in these follicles was produced in situ. IgG-producing cells were detected in the follicular medullas of the jejunal PP and the CT, but not in those of the ileal PP and the BF. CD4(+) cells were distributed in the follicular medullas of the jejunal PP and the CT, but not in those of the ileal PP and the BF. The data suggest that Ig class switching occurs in both jejunal PP follicles and CT follicles, but does not occur in either the ileal PP follicles or the bursal follicles. Because CD4(+) T cells would be prerequisite for Ig class switching in these follicles, IgG(+) cells of the follicular medullas in the ileal PP and the BF would trap immune complexes from the gut lumen. The primary B-cell repertoire might be selected by gut-derived antigens in the ileal PP and the BF before seeding the periphery.