Zymosan A enhances humoral immune responses to soluble protein in chickens.

Vaccination is the most effective method for controlling the infectious diseases that threaten the poultry industry worldwide. The use of adjuvants or immunostimulants is often necessary to improve vaccine efficacy, particularly for vaccines based on recombinant protein or inactivated pathogens. The adjuvant effects of zymosan A on antigen-specific antibody production were investigated in chickens.

Induction of non-specific suppression in chicks by specific combination of maternal antibody and related antigen.

Specific immune suppression in newly hatched chicks induced by specific maternal antibodies has been reported. Laying hens were immunized with dinitrophenyl-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (DNP-KLH). Purified maternal anti-DNP and non-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) Y antibodies were transferred by yolk sac inoculation to newly hatched chicks, and then, they were immunized with an optimum immunogenic dose of DNP-KLH at 1 and 4 weeks of age.

Induction of immune suppression in the chick by an optimal dose of an immunizing antigen in the presence of its specific maternal antibody.

Prolonged interference or suppression of maternal antibodies of the humoral immune response of newly hatched chicks to active immunization has been documented; however, the immunological mechanisms responsible for such suppression are still unclear. Laying hens were immunized with dinitrophenyl-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (DNP-KLH). Purified maternal anti-DNP or non-specific IgY antibodies were transferred by yolk sac inoculation to newly hatched chicks, and they were immunized with DNP-KLH or rabbit serum albumen (RSA) at 1 and 4 weeks of age.

Prolonged suppression of chick humoral immune response by antigen specific maternal antibody.

Although the inhibitory effect of maternal antibodies on active immunization of neonates has been extensively documented, much less attention has been devoted on the exact level of these antibodies which can induce this effect and the extent of such effect. Firstly, laying hens were immunized with dinitrophenyl-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (DNP-KLH).Then, maternal anti-DNP antibodies in chicks derived from these hens were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).