Bursa of Fabricius
In
birds, the
bone marrow is the site of
hematopoiesis and the
bursa of Fabricius (
Latin:
Bursa cloacalis or
Bursa fabricii) is a specialized
organ that, as first demonstrated by Bruce Glick and later by Max Cooper and Robert Good, is necessary for
B cell development.
Mammals generally do not have an equivalent organ; the bone marrow is often both the site of hematopoesis and B cell development.
The ‘B' in ‘B cell' refers to bursa-derived. This is simply because during the 1960s B cells were
first defined (and distinguished from thymus-derived T cells) in birds, which have a bursa. A decade later, after examining almost every other organ including the appendix, researchers finally discovered that mammalian B cells develop in the bone marrow. The fact that ‘bone marrow', like bursa, starts with a ‘B' is a (fortunate?) coincidence.
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