A monoclonal antibody against chicken thrombocytes reacts with the cells of thrombocyte lineage.

A new mouse monoclonal antibody (mAb), HUKT was raised against chicken peripheral blood thrombocytes. The mAb HUKT appeared to detect a specific marker on the surface of chicken thrombocytes. Flow cytometry (FCM) analysis revealed that it did not react with cells from the normal thymus, bursa of Fabricius, six kinds of chicken cell lines, chicken erythrocytes or human platelets. In addition, HUKT(+) cells in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) were CD45(low), Bu-1a(-) and CD3(-) cells. Immunoblotting analysis showed that the molecule recognized by HUKT is a monomer with an apparent molecular weight of 150 kDa under non-reducing and reducing conditions. Tissue distribution studies revealed that only cells of thrombocyte lineage in bone marrow and embryonic blood cells were stained by HUKT. The HUKT mAb presented here may be useful for both ontogenetic studies of thrombocyte lineage and immunological studies in the chicken.