Response of Chicken Lymphocytes to Campylobacter jejuni (9601522)

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of human diarrheal disease in the United States and is commonly acquired from poultry products. The organism causes no disease in poultry and lives in high numbers in the chicken intestines for long periods without being cleared by the immune system. It is our hypothesis that Campylobacter produces a substance that inhibits the immune system of chickens. We will test this hypothesis by culturing immune system cells, lymphocytes, from various organs of the chicken with extracts of Campylobacter. The cells will then be assayed to determine if they have been stimulated or induced to undergo premature death. The method of assay, fluorescence labeled flow cytometry, is capable of showing the kinds of cells that are being affected. Since infection with Campylobacter begins in chickens most commonly at two to three weeks of age, birds will be monitored over the first seven weeks of life to determine if there are maturational changes in response. The results will enable us to design optimum methods of immunizing chickens against Campylobacter to help reduce the number of the human pathogens carried into poultry slaughter plants.