Cellular cooperation at the level of antibody-producing cells in chickens

The effect of in vitro cocultivation of immune and non-immune syngeneic lymphoid cells on the antibody response was studied in chickens. Cocultivation of immune and non-immune spleen cells did not affect significantly the PFC numbers. Substantial increase in PFC was observed in mixed cultures of immune spleen cells with non-immune bone marrow cells. The existence of an enhancing effect of non-immune cells on the antibody-producing cells, which had been earlier described in mice, was observed in a phylogenetically distant species. Therefore it seems probable that it exists in most, if not all, homoiotherm animal species.