The comparative serological response of the chicken, pheasant and quail to a soluble and a particulate antigen

Abstract

A saline solution of bovine serum albumin (40 mg/kg) readily stimulated the production of precipitins and passive haemagglutinating (HA) antibodies in adult chickens and pheasants, but not in quail, following a primary (day 0) and secondary (day 38) intravenous injection. In quail a primary injection of BSA in Freund's complete adjuvant produced low passive HA titres but not precipitins; a further injection of soluble antigen intravenously on day 25 resulted in greatly enhanced passive HA titres and the appearance of precipitins.

A single intravenous injection of sheep erythrocytes (10⁹/kg) promptly evoked an agglutinin response in all three species, with the chicken yielding the highest and the quail the lowest titres. A second injection, 21 days later, stimulated titres higher than those achieved during the initial response only in the quail.